Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
by Fergus Flamacron
Summary: Six years after the attack by Acnologia, a catastrophic event leads the entire island of Tenroujima and everyone on it to be flung headfirst into another world. A world with different people, different magic and different threats. What happens when Dragon Slayers meet with the Boy Who Lived? Pairings mostly, but not entirely, the same as canon.
1. Dimension Dragons

Hello everybody. For those of you that don't know me, hi, I'm Fergus Flamacron and I hope you enjoy my story. For those of you that do know me, hello everyone. Yes, I am starting this new story alongside my old story Quest of the Gods but I think that this is going to do me a heck of a lot of good. However, this first chapter DOES contain a HUGE spoiler for something that happens a long way in the future of Quest of the Gods. Just be aware of that if you do decide to read this.

Anyway, welcome to all Fairy Tail and Harry Potter fans. I have only one thing to say before we get started. This is primarily an adventure story but it will have romance involved. However, **THIS WILL NOT BE A NALU STORY! IT WILL BE NALI!** So, if you are one of the many NaLu fans who can't seem to stand seeing Natsu or Lucy romantically involved with anyone but each other, please turn around now because this story is not for you. I like NaLu fine myself but this site is full of it anyway so I wanted my story to contain a different pairing, for a change of pace, and I would rather not hear complaints about my choices in any of my pairings because they're not things that I am planning on changing. Natsu and Lucy will still be very, very close friends. But not romantic partners.

However, if you are a NaLu fan but are open to the idea of alternative pairings then by all means come in and I hope you enjoy this story despite the fact it doesn't contain any of that pairing.

The one and only disclaimer I will pit in this story:- Fairy Tail and all its works belong to Hiro Mashima, and Harry Potter and all its works belong to JK Rowling. I wish I was inventive enough to have come up with either.

* * *

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 1:- Dimension Dragons**

* * *

Six years.

That was how long it had now been since that fateful day in the year X784. The one where the entire island of Tenroujima had been seemingly obliterated in one fell blast from the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, Acnologia.

That was how long it had been since the Black Wizard Zeref had made his return to the world.

That was how long it had been since twenty-one members of the guild known as Fairy Tail had been presumed utterly and completely dead.

…But of course that wasn't true, and currently the only person in existence who actually knew this for a fact was someone that wasn't even still alive, but who's consciousness lingered on in the form of an astral body she'd made for herself. To all intents and purposes… a ghost.

And that ghost was currently sitting on the calm surface of the pristine ocean as if it was as solid as a dining room table, one elbow resting on her knee while her hand supported her head. She stared out across the empty horizon with dull eyes.

Her name was Mavis Vermilion. The first ever Master of the Fairy Tail guild, whose grave resided on the missing island.

And she groaned, rolling onto her back and lying with limbs splayed, staring up at the sky, her incredibly long blond hair trailing down beneath her small body and the wing-like projections on either side of her head twitching slightly as she mulled over recent events.

Gods, this was boring. It had been nothing short of boring for the last six years. After the island had disappeared there had been some excitement with ships going all around the area searching for the missing Fairy Tail members, but gradually they'd begun to disperse until everyone had completely stopped looking.

And that was their mistake. But even if they had known that the Fairy Tail Tenrou Team was still alive, there was nothing that they could have done about it.

In the final moments before Acnologia's breath attack struck, the members of Fairy Tail had attempted to cast some kind of protective enchantment, pooling all of their trust and faith into one another to try and pull off the impossible and survive the dragon's attack. But it wouldn't have been enough alone. Not without Mavis adding her own help in. Despite the fact she was no longer capable of using her own magic, she was able to convert the power of those incredible bonds between the guild members into a different kind of Magic and cast the Fairy Sphere, a massive protective shield that nothing whatsoever could penetrate.

The only thing was, it was now currently impossible for her to remove the spell. She would have done had she still be alive, but now she was deceased she had to wait for the spell to dispel itself on its own. And for something so large as the entire island of Tenroujima, that was taking a while. How long would be left? Another year? Two? Mavis guessed at least one more year.

But at least the members of the guild were still safe, for the Fairy Sphere had frozen them all in time and they were all lying in suspended animation in the exact same place they'd landed after the blast from Acnologia had pushed the island down beneath the waves.

She'd go down there and visit them sometimes, wondering around the still forests and standing over the still bodies of the various members. She was beginning to wish that she'd paid attention to what was going on with her beloved guild when they'd been awake. But when she'd passed the leadership of the guild on to the second Master, she had decided that staying out of the way would give the guild its best chance to grow on its own. It would allow new ideas, new customs, new everything. After all, if the guild didn't change with the times it wouldn't get anywhere. And from the looks of it, the Third Master had turned it into a true guild to be proud of.

But just because Mavis was no longer in charge didn't mean she couldn't have visited, got to know people, been a part of things. She enjoyed the peace and quiet that came with having her own island, but she'd had a chance to observe some of the fighting from a distance when she'd been woken from her slumber and she greatly admired the youths of today. They were great people, every one of them, and she couldn't wait until they unfroze so she could some to know them better.

For now though, it seemed all she could do was sit and watch the sky, sensing the magic of the island slowly weakening as it was brought closer and closer to the material world once again. Eventually it would do so enough that her limited magical power as a ghost could remove it completely.

Mavis sighed. That was all well and good but she wished something interesting would happen. Six years since she had been disturbed from her rest, which she did not intend to go back into anytime soon and this… when would the fun start?

And naturally, it was at this point that the sky above her practically exploded!

Mavis jumped so violently that she probably would have leapt right out of her physical body if she still had one. She almost vanished beneath the surface of the water and when she looked up it was to see the a rush of blasting energy streaking across the sky out of a large swirling hole in existence and towards a creature that had definitely not been there before. Some kind of huge grey draconic animal with six legs, a broad head that was armoured with what looked like platinum and shadowy tendrils coming out of its shoulders tipped with three red claws each.

The creature swooped underneath the energy blast, which cannoned downwards to blow up the surface of the ocean several miles away and turned around to hiss at the swirling portal, out of which emerged two more dragon-like creatures of equal size - one four legged and blue with a long neck and crests jutting from its back and head and something that resembled a glowing diamond on its chest, and the other bipedal with shield-like shoulders with giant pearls embedded into them, a comparatively small head and a huge tail sweeping out behind it.

Mavis gaped as the two dragons rushed towards their third opponent at high speed that belied their great size. Just what was going on here? Even when she'd been alive, she'd never seen a dragon. The only one she'd ever seen was Acnologia and now suddenly in the same place that he'd tried to blow up her guild members, suddenly there were three.

Pearl closed in on Platinum and launched a purplish-glowing claw right his head, but Platinum brought up his shadow claws to catch the strike, though it was pushed backwards under the brute force of the attack. Hissing, Platinum summoned some kind of orange glowing orb in front of its mouth which it fired at Pearl but Pearl formed an orb of exactly the same nature and flung it right back, the two orbs crashing into each other and detonating in mid-air, sending smoke in all directions for half a kilometre.

Platinum thundered straight into the smoke but came shooting out again moments later under a forceful ramming from Diamond who's roar shook the water far below and as it raised what looked like a steel-plated glowing tail and pushed away from Platinum to ram the tail around. But suddenly Platinum disappeared right into thin air, the tail swinging uselessly through the space where he had been. Mavis gasped as suddenly Platinum re-appeared next to Peal and slammed him with some kind of Shadow Force. Pearl let off a high pitched, ululating squeal as he was tossed from the sky and slammed down into the water with a tumultuous splash.

Platinum hissed in triumph and turned around, another swirling portal opening up in front of it as it prepared to dive through, only for Diamond to send a bright burst of white light energy from its mouth to ram right into the side of the escaping Platinum and send him rolling upwards, the portal slamming shut behind him. Platinum let loose a strangled squawk, turning to see Diamond coming rushing up at him and fired a golden bolt of light into the air the split into around a dozen and came crashing down towards Diamond like falling meteors.

Except suddenly the water of the ocean churned up in a giant whirlpool and several geysers erupted upwards past Diamond to slam into each of the meteors and vaporise them with a burst of steam. Pearl exploded up from the water with something akin to a smirk on its draconic face and watched as Diamond fired another several rays of light that sparkled like gemstones from the diamond on his chest, each zeroing in on Platinum's stomach.

But Platinum suddenly turned itself into a shadow and streaked down past Diamond before the attack could hit and aimed itself right at Pearl, who raised a kind of sphere of water around him to pulse the attack away. Mavis frowned. It seemed that for whatever reason the Platinum dragon was more focused on taking out the Pearl rather than the Diamond one. She had no idea why that would be but there must have been a reason.

But the Diamond one wasn't having any of that and was gathering up a huge amount of energy between his jaws. Mavis gasped as a huge purplish blast of energy cannoned out of his jaws and fired straight down straight towards both Pearl and Platinum.

Was it mad? Wasn't Pearl it's ally?

But Pearl just smirked and suddenly a pink portal opened behind it and it backed itself in, reappearing right next to Diamond out of another portal to leave Platinum in the firing line alone. The attack struck him dead on, blasting him down deep into the ocean with such force that a huge tidal wave seemed to erupt in all directions around him and wash outwards, forcing Mavis to rise high into the air before she was caught up in it.

Was it over?

Pearl and Diamond hung in the air for a moment, seemingly waiting for something to happen… right before there was a Distortion right between them and suddenly a heavily battered Platinum appeared out of nowhere, slashing them both with his Shadow Claws and knocking them out to the side. A furious roar curdled out of Platinum as it fired another glowing orb at Diamond, who took the attack with a grunting roar and staggered in the air. Platinum then whirled around and seized Pearl in some kind of Psychic hold, dragging him back towards him and charging some kind of Dragon Pulse attack of his own between his beaked jaws.

But Pearl beat him to it and fired one heck of a huge water blast out of his own jaws, sending Platinum backwards head over heels under the force of it and right towards Diamond, who seized Platinum by the tail in his jaws and swung him bodily around, heaving him down towards the waves. Platinum struggled to right himself, flailing his claws wildly until he was back upright but Diamond had already flung what looked like a bunch of glowing rocks down towards him. Platinum growled and swept and dodged from side to side to avoid them but suddenly found itself face to face with Pearl, who had dropped down to the water's surface and its armoured arm was glowing bright pink.

Mavis watched in shock as Pearl slashed his arm downwards and generated some kind of massive pink energy slash that seemed to make the very air around it ripple. The attack smashed into Platinum and seemed to both hit him and keep on going past him without cutting him in half at the same time. Platinum roared as it was apparently bombarded with pain…

But Mavis only gasped as the tumultuous attack ripped a line across the sky right on past her.

And that was when the suction began.

While with Diamond's attack everything had seemed to slow down to an absolute crawl, with this one everything around it seemed to rise up and head straight for it, the water of the ocean arcing up into the air as it was sucked into the attack which Mavis suddenly recognised to be a tear in the fabric of reality.

And right now, Pearl's space was influencing more than just the sea. It was influencing what was underneath it.

As an astral body, the suction of space had no effect on Mavis herself but she gasped when she saw the glowing, golden orb of the Fairy Sphere beginning to rise up from beneath the waves until it breached the surface and was hauled up and out of the waves, the Fairy Tail symbol glowing proudly on the side and the massive Tenrou Tree visible on the inside. The entire thing was being hauled upwards and tipped sideways, moving towards the portal.

Mavis immediately dove towards the sphere and passed through it, looking around wildly to see if everything was alright and trying to find some way of stopping it. But a tremendous roar took her attention and she turned to see Platinum had burst his way up and out of the attack, staggering in the air and heavily damaged but a leer on its face as it dove straight towards the glowing tear in space, trying to dive into it and away… but then suddenly it was moving so slowly that it might as well have been a snail. Mavis blinked and looked around for an explanation… and found one, in the form of Diamond not far away sending out a truly MASSIVE blue blast from his jaws that skimmed right past the Fairy Sphere and zoned in towards Platinum at high speed.

Mavis was beginning to think she understood a little more. Pearl could control space and that was why Platinum was targeting him more than Diamond because he was trying to escape and Pearl was stopping him from doing so or something like that. But if Pearl could control space…

Mavis suddenly gasped as she felt something happening to the Fairy Sphere. It was designed as ultimate protection for those within, shielding them even from the passage of time… but for some reason the rate at which the magic was wearing off had suddenly accelerated!

That Dragon Roar… it was distorting time, slowing down Platinum but speeding up other surroundings, including her protective sphere! Diamond could control time just as well as Pearl could control space.

But Mavis had other things to worry about now because it was also speeding up the rate at which the Sphere was being drawn out of the water and thrown into the spacial rip.

Mavis gritted her teeth. She couldn't stop it! She didn't know how! It was unavoidable - all she could do was grab onto the Tenrou Tree and hitch a ride as the entire island was sent rolling forwards. She extended her limited power over the Sphere to try and stabilise it but it was… inexorably… pulled through the tear in space, leaving their dimension and the three battling Dragons behind.

Everything became a helter-skelter from there, Mavis holding both her arms wide to try and keep the Fairy Sphere together. The time had accelerated it up to its zenith and it felt like it would now be mere minutes before the spell broke, and if that happened while they were tumbling through the gap between dimensions, who knew what would happen to everyone on the island, blissfully unaware of their current predicament as they were.

Outside the sphere it was utter madness, swirling nonsensical colours ripping left, right and centre and the swirling winds of the vortex sending the entire sphere spinning over and over, tumbling like a marble down a plastic obstacle course round and round. Mavis was getting dizzy just trying to keep sense of everything and she screwed her eyes up, flexing her fingers to exert her power still further. No… not yet… she couldn't… let this…

But it seemed to be unavoidable - the Fairy Sphere was fading, its magic finally depleting as a whole year's worth of magical time was accelerated and stolen away. Mavis couldn't stop it now. She could barely keep her focus on keeping her bearings as it was now and trying to stay with the Sphere itself, gripping the tree branch hard with her legs.

"Must… keep… together…" she panted to herself. "Come on… Fairy Tail… stay… with me…"

But it was too much, and Mavis eyes opened wide when she felt the Sphere breaking up. It wouldn't stay up much longer no matter how much power she put left into it. Not with so much to preserve in it like this.

And then she felt it… the Fairy Sphere finally beginning to fracture and break apart.

Mavis cursed and did the only thing she could. She narrowed her focus down around the island, locating the life forces of everything she could down there and zeroing the magic of the Fairy Sphere down around them specifically… strengthening the magic around them as much as they could… and then suddenly the giant Sphere burst entirely, leaving Tenrou Island whipping through the vortex unprotected, along with about a dozen smaller Fairy Spheres that went shooting off ahead into the vortex. Mavis yelled and managed to use her magic to grab hold of one and keep it close but the others went off into the distance and out of sight.

"Everyone…" the First Master grimaced. "Please… be safe…"

And abruptly… after about another minute or so of madness - it was hard to tell in this place - she suddenly felt a natural wind again as the island was thrown out into the light. The massive tree arced through the air before somehow… miraculously… the island landed right side up with a colossal splash into water. A huge wave burst upwards all around the circumference of the island and washed across the shoreline, Mavis almost falling from her perch on the tree with a yelp. The world around her seemed to vibrate as the island was drenched in sea-water until finally the island came to a thumping stop as it touched bottom.

It took a while before Mavis could recuperate herself and when she did she sat up and shook herself slightly, clambering to her bare feet as she looked out across the island, inspecting it for damage. It looked to be remarkably intact considering what had just happened, but then again there was powerful magic interlaced with the island's very structure so that wasn't so surprising. And the water rose up a little higher around the island than it would have done were it in its proper place back home, but mostly everything seemed to be okay.

Except, of course, for the fact that the entire island where her natural body had been laid to rest had been zapped into a whole separate dimension.

There was no sign of the battling Dragons. Perhaps they were still wreaking havoc back in their true world. Perhaps Platinum had been defeated by that roar from Diamond - she hadn't actually seen whether the attack had hit him or not. Or perhaps their battle would take them right into another dimension - who knew if they were even from Earthland anyway. They had appeared rather abruptly after all. What they were and why they were fighting… perhaps she would never know.

But this was something that Mavis could never have predicted. Not once in a million years could she have expected something like this.

What universe were they in now? It was a universe of magic - she could feel that in the air. But other than that, she could say nothing about it other than the fact it had oceans apparently.

But then something else grabbed her attention and her eyes swung round in search of that one Fairy Sphere that she managed to keep close. Where was it? And what had been inside it?

She soon spotted it lying at the top of the giant stone cliff in the shape of a wolf's head and leapt from her place on the tree branch, floating her way down until she alighted gently on the ground, the grass tickling her bare feet slightly.

She could see faintly through the little spherical shield and she pressed her face up against it, squinting to try and discern the shapes she was seeing within.

"I see…" she sighed in relief. "Well, at least you four are safe."

She then looked out across the ocean, her wingtips drooping slightly as her expression turned grim.

"But the rest of your friends… where could they have ended up? Did they all even end up in the same universe? I hope to whatever gods might exist here that they did…"

She sighed. There was rather little that she could do for them now. But she could feel the power of the Fairy Sphere before her beginning to fade, so she settled herself down on a nearby rock to wait until it did.

* * *

The first thing that Wendy Marvell felt was pain. Pain rippling through her body seemingly from head to toe like a dull, throbbing ache, but it somehow felt far away as if she'd drifted outside her body but was still able to feel what it was feeling. She almost frowned to herself as she began to stir. That explanation made very little sense even to her. Jeez, her head must be muddled.

She groaned, turning her head and shifting her arm slightly, gritting her teeth as her head pounded and wishing not for the first time that she could heal her own wounds as easily as she could heal those of others.

She could feel grass beneath her hand as she moved it. Why was she lying on the grass? The last thing she could remember was holding hands with her fellow Dragon Slayer Gajeel and her Exceed partner Charla, as all her fellow Fairy Tail members formed a circle and tried to defend against…

"ACNOLOGIA!" Wendy shot up, her eyes opening wide as she looked around wildly, searching the skies for the massive, black Dragon. But there was nothing. Just white fluffy clouds against a blue backdrop, with some distant grey the promised rain somewhere.

The young blue-haired, twelve-year-old girl lifted a hand to her head, rubbing it in confusion. "I was… unconscious? What happened? How long was I out for?" She started looking around and her eyes immediately found her three companions, who were lying prone beside her. "Charla…" she crawled over to the little white cat and frantically started shaking her. "Happy… Lily…"

There was no response from Charla or Happy, but Pantherlily twitched and grunted, slowly beginning to push himself up and shaking his head as if to clear it.

"Wendy…" he muttered, when he opened his eyes. "What's… what's going on? Last thing I remember is… wait…" he sat up, looking around. "Gajeel! What happened to Gajeel! And the rest!"

"I don't know…" Wendy sniffed, holding up her hands and beginning to use her Sky Magic on Charla to try and heal her wounds. "I only just woke up myself and I can't see anyone else. But it looks like all of us here are still alive at least."

"Damn it," Lily muttered as he pushed himself to his feet. "I should… I should go take a look around… see if I can… nngh…" he flinched as his side twinged.

"Don't strain yourself, Lily," Wendy cautioned him. "You need to rest."

"No, I must do my duty. To the guild. Need to make sure everyone's alright…" Lily shook his head stubbornly.

"Everyone is fine," replied a voice that drew their attention around behind them. They both blinked in surprise at the side of the young looking girl sitting on the rocks above them in the long flowing pink-layered dress with red ribbon around her neck, blonde hair that fell like a curtain behind her right to her ankles and the wing-like projections behind her ears.

"Well…" said the girl. "I say fine. As fine as can be under the circumstances. They are all still alive at least, and they should be relatively uninjured."

"Um… who are you?" Wendy asked, as Lily's hand went to the little yet bulky sword strapped to his back warily.

"Who am I?" the girl smiled slightly. "I feel like I should be rather offended. Are there no pictures of me left in the Fairy Tail guild? There should be. I did found it…"

"You… founded it?" Wendy blinked, before her eyes widened. "Wait… don't tell me…"

"You can't mean it…" Lily agreed.

"I do," the girl nodded. "I'm Fairy Tail's First Guild Master - Mavis Vermilion."

"But… the First Master died many years ago," Lily protested. "How can you be her? Is this some kind of illusion or trick?"

Wendy, on the other hand, was staring at Mavis, to use the clichéd and yet highly appropriate phrase, as if she'd seen a ghost. Not least because if she was, this would not be the first time that she'd ever seen a ghost. She'd grown up with one, after all.

"Perhaps it would be better to wait until your companions have awoken before I fully explain," Mavis replied. "Save me having to do so more than once. But from what I've seen of my guild, it has become rather hardy. I'm sure you'll all be fine. In any case, Mister Cat, looking around for your friends would be rather pointless now. None of them are left on the island except for you four."

"What? But…"

"Like I said, I'll explain everything. But first, tend to your friends. I'm not going anywhere… I haven't the first clue where I would go."

Wendy slowly nodded, deciding to shove her questions aside for now and focused on her glowing hands, healing up Charla and Happy's minor injuries before a slightly suspicious but still able Lily helped her in waking the two of them up.

When Charla woke up she immediately moved to hug Wendy, thankful beyond words that her best friend and partner was still okay. Happy was the last to wake and when he did the first thing he did was ask for fish, while the second thing he did was immediately try and run off to find Natsu. This led to Lily having to grab hold of his tail to stop him, causing Happy to faceplant right into the ground.

Needless to say, the both of them were also shocked when Mavis introduced herself. Charla gasped and placed her paws over her mouth while Happy screamed, "EEEEHHHHHHHH!?" but they were soon calmed as Mavis descended to the grass in front of them and began her explanation, telling them everything that had transpired from the moment Acnologia had tried to blast them right up until the point where they had landed in this universe.

"Another world?" Happy asked, looking around him. "Could it be that we've landed in Edolas again?"

"Of course not," Charla huffed at him slightly. "Can't you feel it? There is definitely magic in this world whereas Edolas was totally stripped of all its magic."

"Hmm," Lily nodded. "I was there myself. I saw the Prince of Edolas send all of Edolas' magic to Earthland with my own eyes. This is definitely not Edolas. Yet it is true that it does not feel like Earthland either. The magic here… it is different than our own."

"At least we can still use magic here though," Wendy frowned. "But if the magic is different, does that mean when we run out of magic we won't be able to restore it?"

"That's a good question," Charla agreed. "After all, all magical beings of Earthland obtain their magic by absorbing Ethernano from the atmosphere and converting it to magical power. Does this universe even have Ethernano in it?"

"If it did not before, it does now," Mavis replied. "I felt it. The portal that sucked us here was absorbing absolutely everything from the surrounding space. Water, air, Ethernano, all of it. It's likely that it is now spreading across the world as we speak. You should be able to use magic here just as you could at home. If you couldn't I probably wouldn't be able to stand here talking with you."

"How are you standing here talking to us anyway?" Lily asked. "Not to offend you, of course, but are you not in fact dead?"

"Oh yes," Mavis nodded. "But there are ways, if you know how, to transcend your consciousness and magic past your death. I decided before I passed away to carry this out, in the hope that I could continue to watch over my guild from afar and see it grow and flourish, watch the ideals that I had laid down bloom. But I have been rather neglectful of that in recent decades, preferring to remain in isolation and enjoy the peace and quiet of my island. A decision I am now regretting, as it looks like I have missed a great deal."

"I see… So that's what Master Roubaul must have done," Wendy murmured.

"Master Roubaul?" Mavis blinked in bemusement. "Who is that?"

"Oh… he was the Master of my old guild, Caitshelter," Wendy smiled fondly. "A funny old man with really strange habits, who kept saying the word 'nabula' for reasons nobody understood, but such a kind and wonderful Master. It… turned out that he had created the entire Caitshelter guild for me and that every single member except for me and Charla were actually illusions he'd generated to give me a family when he took me in. It was only when I gained friends outside the guild and his reason for remaining in the world no longer existed that he finally revealed the truth to me and passed on. I joined Fairy Tail soon after and I love it here."

"That's good to hear," Mavis smiled. "I'm so glad that we could provide the family you needed. It must have been hard though. To learn the truth."

"Yeah… it was…" Wendy sniffed, trying not to cry as old memories were re-awakened.

Mavis sighed slightly. Truly how neglectful had she been not to know something like this. Well, she wasn't going to be neglectful any more.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Happy asked. "We've got to go and search for all of the others, but where can we find them?"

"I do not know," Mavis replied. "Most likely they are scattered at random across this world, but they're all in separate little pockets of the Fairy Sphere, frozen in time still, most likely. The roar of the Diamond Dragon distorted time greatly, so there's no way of knowing how long it will take each sphere to wear off now. Some of them could be awake now, others might still have months of being frozen in time yet. But I'm fairly certain that they're all in this world somewhere."

"Then how do we set about finding them?" Lily asked. "It would probably be best if we could track them all down as quickly as possible."

"You cast the Fairy Sphere spell didn't you, First Master?" Charla asked. "Can't you sense where they are?"

"The Spheres are small and faint now. I could probably sense them if I got within thirty miles or so of one of them but until then I would be searching blindly."

"That seems to limit our options," Lily placed a hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"What do you think we should do, Lily?" Wendy asked. "You used to be a Captain of Edolas. What do you suggest?"

"I've never quite been in a situation like this before," Lily pointed out before humming to himself and considering. "I believe the first course of action should be trying to gather some supplies like food and water from the island before we strike out and try to find the mainland. We should scout out the settlements, try and learn what type of people live here and if they might be friendly or best avoided. If it's the former perhaps we can garner some help in such for our comrades. If it's the latter… then we may have to search ourselves but keep our ears out for any potential news."

"I'm sure that if Natsu-san and the others are spotted it wouldn't take long for the news to spread," Wendy giggled nervously.

"They do tend to be rather… memorable… don't they?" Charla snickered.

"Don't worry, Wendy, we'll find them," Happy declared, sounding as though he was trying to reassure himself as much as Wendy. "We'll definitely find them and then when we do we'll find a way to get back home again."

"Oh, that's a point," Wendy sighed. "I hadn't even considered how we might get home."

"And I was just getting used to living in Earthland," Lily agreed. "Only to be whisked off to another world almost immediately afterwards… or rather six years afterwards though I only experienced a few weeks of it."

"We ought to worry about how we will get home another time," Mavis pointed out, rising to her feet. She was almost pleased to note that she was actually the tallest person there right now. That didn't happen very often. "For now our first priority is finding all of our guild members. Once we are all gathered again can we think of a way to take us back. After all, we don't leave any one of our own behind."

"That we most certainly don't," Wendy pumped her fist.

"We said we would all go home together right before Acnologia attacked and that still holds true now," Happy cheered.

"I'm still amazed we actually survived that," Charla chuckled.

"Well, from what I've seen, this guild does make a habit of pulling off the impossible," Lily noted with a smirk.

"You all certainly seem upbeat under the circumstances," Mavis giggled slightly.

"Well if we weren't upbeat we'd never get anywhere, First Master," Happy held up a paw. "Considering the amount of things that happen to us. This is just the start of another adventure. And we'll definitely overcome it, just like everything else. No matter what gets thrown at us."

"I like that attitude very much indeed," Mavis clapped her hands together lightly. "That's exactly the sort of spirit and determination I always wanted from the members of my guild when I set it up. I suppose it is decided. I shall accompany you. There's very little reason for me to stay, after all."

"But isn't your grave here?" Wendy asked. "This is Fairy Tail's sacred ground - shouldn't someone stay behind to keep an eye on it?"

"The island will be fine. The barrier I put in place around it to normally keep people from finding it has started functioning again. Even if a ship comes upon the island it should just go around it without even noticing it. Besides, an island is merely an island. What is most important are the lives of the others."

"Then let's go…" Happy exclaimed, before his stomach rumbled. "Um… after we eat. Anyone got any fish? I think I ate my last one some time ago."

"Not everything is about fish, you know," Charla pointed out

"Fish seems to actually be a practical thing to search for right now," Lily acknowledged. "If there's an ocean there should be some here. Hopefully. But this is another universe so who even knows what the local fauna here could be. I'll head back to the boat and see if I can find a net to catch some. It may be faster than a hook and line."

His body glowed briefly and expanded until he had taken on the towering, musclebound humanoid panther form that was his original body, his Exceed wings materialising behind him before he shot off into the air.

Mavis oohed slightly at the sight, before suddenly realising that now there was someone taller than her here, causing her to slump and murmur, "Figures…"

"I guess we should try and make a fire," Wendy suggested.

"That would be easy as pie if Natsu were still here," Happy's tail drooped slightly.

"Well, he's not," Charla replied. "But don't worry, Happy. Natsu's one of the hardiest members of the guild. He's probably one of the last ones we need to worry about."

"Aye," Happy thumped his chest lightly. "Because he is Natsu."

"As if that explains everything," Charla sighed with a slight smile. "Come on then. Let's gather some firewood."

"Aye sir!"

Mavis smiled brightly as she watched them go. Yes, this was hardly the most ideal of circumstances, but it looked like there would most definitely be some fun times ahead if these were her companions. But her eyes slowly drifted back towards the ocean and out towards the horizon.

_Whatever trails and tribulations lie ahead for my guild… I will see them all safely home,_ she thought to herself. _I swear it on the name Fairy Tail._

* * *

What none of them could know was that actually there was one other member of their guild who was already awake, having been split away from everyone else in his own little Fairy Sphere and having woken up alone in the middle of a meadow with no clue as to how he had got here, or what had happened to the rest of his friends.

With no answers for him in the meadow, he had picked a direction at random and wandered off searching for answers. Yet he was pretty sure that he'd been walking for miles across open expanse with scattered trees all about the place and come across absolutely nothing. Not even a farmhouse or some other kind of settlement. But still he trudged on. There had to be something close by. Something that could tell him how the heck he'd been on an island being attacked by a Black Dragon one minute and on the mainland and totally alone the next.

But his walk eventually came to a stop when he reached the edge of a cliff and found himself looking out across the great salty expanse of ocean. Definitely not the same expanse of ocean that the island had been in. That had been a very tropical environment. Not so here. The cliffs were rugged and the spray that was coming up them from below was cold. This was some kind of temperate zone, no question about that.

But that just made everything even more stupidly confusing.

"Jeez," he muttered to himself. "This is messed up."

But suddenly his nose twitched and he looked up towards the sky, his eyes widening when he saw something that looked like some kind of black, skeletal winged horse soaring up near the clouds. His red eyes lingered on the creature for several moments before it winged its way inland at high speed, shortly becoming a little black dot in the distance.

"That sure as heck wasn't normal," Gajeel Redfox growled, his long, wild black hair wafting in the breeze that blew up against his chest, bare except for the bandages that were still wrapped around them from six years ago but the black guild mark on his left shoulder on full display. "What kind of shit have I managed to get myself into this time?… Well, at least nobody can say that life with this guild is boring."

* * *

Massaging his forehead and having to resist the incredibly strong temptation to just throw down his quill and slump back into his chair, Harry Potter did his best to focus on his latest Transfiguration essay. Something about the Inanimatus Conjurus Spell… but his heart certainly wasn't in it? Less so than usual in fact.

He knew it was important. He was a fifth year student now and the Wizarding World's equivalent of the GCSE exams - their OWLs - would be coming up at the end of the year as his close friend Hermione Granger never failed to remind him. But Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the only place that he'd ever truly called a home and after just one week of being back after the summer holiday he was currently wishing he was practically anywhere else.

Heck, even his magical-phobic aunt, uncle and cousin - the Dursleys - were seeming like a more attractive option right now, and that was saying something.

Why was everything going so wrong? Ever since the Dark Wizard Voldemort had returned at the end of last summer it had seemed like half his world had fallen apart. And not just because Voldemort had killed his parents when he was a baby and left a scar upon his head when he'd tried to kill Harry himself. It seemed almost every other aspect of Harry's life was taking a turn for the worse right now too.

Perhaps that was being overdramatic, but that's the way it felt.

Sure, he'd been let off for using a Patronus Charm to ward off the two Dementors that attacked him and his cousin in the summer and that was a plus. And he still had his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, by his side and looking out for him.

But that seemed to be about all that remained. Dumbledore was ignoring him, Hagrid was missing, his godfather Sirius was cooped up in his house in London, unable to send him proper messages in case it was intercepted and certainly unable to visit due to the fact he was a convicted criminal for crimes he had never committed. Not to mention practically the entire Wizarding World was convinced that his stories about Voldemort's return were attention-seeking lies and the Ministry seemed to be out to publicly discredit him at every turn - a stark contrast to previous years where everyone seemed to idolise him. He'd always longed for that to stop, but not to completely reverse like this. He'd always wanted to be a normal kid but it seemed if he wasn't a hero then he was practically a juvenile delinquent in the eyes of most of the populace.

At least there were some who believed him, like the Order of the Phoenix, but the fact that so many others, even one of his own dorm-mates, didn't want anything to do with him anymore almost made their support negligible. Plus the Order wasn't here now for the most part. Harry kept thinking that's where he should be, with the secret team trying to find ways to stop the low-laying Voldemort rather than stuck here doing essays he didn't even care about.

And what else - ah yes, there was the fact that one of the Ministry's own goons, the toad-faced Dolores Umbridge, had taken over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher here, spreading the Ministry's smear campaign against him by word of mouth even here, and when he angrily attempted to justify himself and tell the truth she'd taken him away from his favourite pastime of playing Quidditch to make him write lines that carved scars into the back of his hand. The words _I must not tell lies_ were still quite visible even now.

Was that all of it?

Hardly. There was also the fact that the first Quidditch practice session he HAD been allowed to attend had been a total bust, thanks to jeering members of the Slytherin House and poor Ron's nervousness at being the new Keeper, interfering with his gameplay, and now Ron was in a rather bad mood himself as he tried to sort through the same essay. But to be fair that wasn't Ron deliberately trying to ruin things for him like practically everything else. He was sure Ron could do better if he could get his act together.

Surely things had to start going right for him pretty soon, didn't they? How much worse could they get?

He shook his head. God, don't think like that. He knew as well as anyone that things could always get worse.

Slowly, the two of them crawled on through their essays until they could finally put it aside and begin yet another, this one from Professor Sinistra and her Astronomy lessons. Honestly, Harry could barely see how this subject counted as magical. Why did wizards need to know about Jupiter's moons? Surely that was just something that Muggle astrophysicists needed to know.

Jeez, he really was sounding like a student complaining about something like algebra.

"Which one is the one with the giant ice pillars?" Ron murmured sleepily, bashing the side of his head a little as if that would keep him awake. "Europa or Ganymede?"

"I think its Europa, but don't call me on that," Harry murmured back.

"Eh, I'll put that in anyway. If its wrong, we can be wrong together."

"Not exactly the right attitude Hermione would want us to have but what the heck."

"Yeah well, looks like she's a little busy with those elf socks of hers," Ron glanced over to where Hermione and his sister Ginny were knitting together. "Honestly I don't know why Ginny's helping her with that. She knows the House Elves don't want to be free."

"Yeah well, something's been taking the things she's been knitting," Harry pointed out dully.

"Probably Crookshanks. Trying to spare Hermione's feelings but throwing them on the fire or something."

"Don't let her hear you say that… though it wouldn't surprise me if that was true."

Ron snorted slightly, before murmuring something about Callisto and trying to write it down.

"Hey guys," their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by their fellow fifth year Neville Longbottom, who had come running up to them, catching the attention of Hermione and Ginny too. "Have you heard?"

"Heard? Heard what?" Harry asked.

"There was something on the Wizarding Wireless Network today," Neville huffed. "Apparently loads and loads of people have been messaging in telling them that they've seen shooting stars or something like that, right across the country."

"Shooting stars?" Hermione frowned. "That's rather odd, isn't it? Surely if there was a meteor shower coming soon, Professor Sinistra would have mentioned it."

"Why would something like that make its way onto the Wizarding Wireless?" Ron asked, bemused. "Sure, it's unusual, but there've been plenty of things like that before and nobody bothered mentioning it on the news."

"That's the thing, you see," Neville replied. "They weren't saying it was just a distant thing in the sky. They were saying that they saw these bright golden lights come flying down really low. Some of the people said they think they might have even hit the ground not far away."

"What, made impact?" Harry asked. "Seriously? Seems kinda farfetched to me. Wasn't it a meteor hitting the earth that was supposed to have wiped out the dinosaurs or something?"

"I dunno, was it?" Ron asked.

"Technically that was a meteorite," Hermione replied. "But it does seem weird. You'd think some kind of falling rock would cause a tremor or too. Wasn't there anything like that mentioned?"

"No, nothing. Just passing on what I heard," Neville shrugged. "Just thought it was interesting."

Harry forced a light smile. "Yeah… yeah, its really interesting, Neville. Thanks for the heads up. Maybe we'll try and sit up tonight… see if we can see any more."

Neville smiled back and nodded. "I think that's what Professor Sinistra is going to do," he said, before he wandered off to tend to his ugly looking Mimbulus Mimbletonia cactus plant.

"We're not really going to stay up tonight to look for meteors, are we?" Ron whispered.

"Oh heck no," Harry replied. "I reckon I'm going to need one hell of good night's sleep after all this. Still, it is rather weird. Do you think… I dunno… could maybe…"

"You-Know-Who?" Ron raised an eyebrow. "You think he could have had something to do with it?"

"I dunno, maybe," Harry shrugged.

"I kinda doubt it," Ron chuckled. "I don't know much about You-Know-Who, Harry, but I've got a feeling that pretty lights in the sky really aren't his style. Giant floating skulls with snakes for tongues, yeah, but this… not every weird thing that happens is related to You-Know-Who, mate."

Harry sighed and shook his head. He knew Ron was right. He was probably being overly paranoid again. It just seemed now that every shift in the shadows and every unexplained phenomenon could potentially be a link to Voldemort. He knew he was just scrambling for details that weren't there, trying to find an answer to the question of what the heck the Dark Lord was doing. But it didn't look like he was going to find them any time soon.

"Yeah, you're right," he muttered. "Sorry."

"S'fine, mate. I get where you're coming from. You want answers. Believe me, we all do."

Harry nodded and started writing a section about the moon Io. "I guess. Maybe astronomy does have some real world applications for wizards after all."

"I doubt it," Ron chuckled. "Not unless a bunch of fairies come bursting out of those lights or something like that."

Harry laughed. All the horrible stuff going on in his life was still there of course but Ron had helped lighten the mood a little temporarily. So that at least he could concentrate a little more on the task at hand at the very least.

Little did he know how bizarrely accurate Ron had actually been.


	2. Wild Beasts

Thank you to everyone who has joined in with this story so early on, and thanks for all the faves, follows and reviews that have been given so far. I hope that you continue to enjoy the rest of this story, because as I'm sure you imagine, there's quite a long ride ahead of us yet.

* * *

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 2:- Wild Beasts**

* * *

It was a couple of hours after waking up to find themselves in this otherworldly predicament that Wendy and her company of Exceed left Tenroujima behind. Lily had caught some fish as he promised and they'd eaten a surprisingly hearty breakfast considering the circumstances. Even Charla had eaten well considering she hated fish, but she had managed to find some of her favourite Darjeeling tea in the rubble of the former campsite they'd set up on the island to help wash it down with.

They were rather surprised when their new companion Mavis sampled a little of their fish and smiled in approval. Lily had commented that surely a ghost didn't need to eat or drink, but Wendy had pointed out that her old ghost Master Roubaul used to drink a lot of milk. Often straight from the jug even after he poured some into a cup, and often forgetting he was drinking it and trying to speak before swallowing.

Mavis nodded, saying that while she didn't actually need food or drink, she was quite capable of eating it even now. Though if she did, she would need to go to the little girl's room later.

"Oh for Edolas, where things made sense to me," Lily had shook his head with a faint chuckle. "I'm still trying to get to grips with what happens in my own new home world and I bet there's going to be a lot more surprising things from this one to come."

But there was one other thing that Happy in particular noticed before they left the island.

"Where are all the animals?"

Mavis especially was stunned she had not realised this earlier, but the island was completely and utterly devoid of animal life. It had not just been the Fairy Tail members that had been on the island when Grimoire Heart and Acnologia attacked it. There had been deer, wolves and waterfowl, along with several giant monsters that looked like giant lizards, huge pigs, carnivorous birds and a multitude of other creatures, some too weird to give a simple description to.

And yet now there were none at all.

"Oh dear," Mavis rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "It looks like the rest of the guild members are not the only things that were scattered across the land of this world. When I condensed the Fairy Sphere I was seeking out all the life-forms on the island. I didn't want an single one of them to die. And now every one of them is gone."

"Well… that's probably going to give someone a bit of a shock," Charla observed dryly.

Mavis giggled a little sheepishly. "I guess it can't be helped now. But if we find any of them we should probably try and figure out a way to return them to the island. Perhaps you could call them my responsibility."

"We'll add it to the list," Wendy mused. "I hope nobody gets hurt by them though."

There was really nothing else that anyone could say on this subject so they had focused on preparing themselves, gathering what supplies they could find. And, eventually, with three sets of wings shining into life, the three Exceed took off from the island and headed out across the great salt sea. Charla insisted on carrying Wendy despite offers from both the guys, while Mavis hovered alongside them with her wind wafting behind her in the wind. Mavis floated forwards rather oddly - her body neither vertical nor horizontal but almost exactly halfway in between. Being horizontal would of course reduce drag, but Wendy guessed that Mavis simply was not affected by such things.

How strange the First Master really was? Some of her attributes, such as her weightlessness, were like the traditional kind of ghost told in the stories, while others just seemed to go against everything Wendy would associate with being a ghost. But then again, she'd never once guessed her old Master was a ghost so… what did she know really?

"Do we know which way we're going?" Charla asked after about half an hour of flying.

"Judging by the position of the sun I would guess that we're heading southeast," Lily glanced around at the sun behind and to their right. "But that's assuming that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west in this world. For all we know it could be the other way around here."

"That doesn't really help build up my confidence," Happy shivered. "I really don't want to end up any more lost than we are."

"Would you like to explain to me how it would be possible to be more lost than thrown into another world like this?" Charla asked pointedly.

"We could be on our own," Happy pointed out.

"… That isn't really more lost than we are now but I take your point," Charla grimaced.

"Maybe we should play 'I Spy' to pass the time?" suggested Happy.

"Please, just no," Charla rolled her eyes slightly.

"There's not exactly much around here that could work for that game anyway," Lily noted.

"That's not true… waves, ocean, sea, blue, sky, cloud… wings, cats, ghosts, Dragon Slayers…"

"Yes, we get the point."

Mavis snorted slightly, catching Wendy's attention. The young Sky Dragon looked across to her and asked, "First Master? Is something the matter?"

"Oh its nothing," Mavis smiled over at her. "I was just thinking of how much I've been missing company like this. I'd always been content with my peaceful and quiet unlife on Tenroujima but… I guess there was some part of me that craved a little companionship. And now that I have it again… I'm beginning to wonder how I ever coped without it."

Wendy and the three cats smiled back. "Well, we're grateful for everything you've done for us," Wendy replied earnestly. "You were watching over us the whole time and we didn't even know you were there."

"You truly saved our butts," Happy agreed.

"Hopefully we continue to prove worthy of your company," Lily nodded.

"Worthy?" Mavis shook her head. "It's not a question of worthiness. I may have created Fairy Tail but really I'm no more or less important to the guild than any of its other members, past, present or future. That's the point of this guild - all comrades together. Despite personal rank within the guild we are equal in every other way, no matter who we were before we joined the guild. Boundaries should not matter when it comes to who your friends are. And they shouldn't matter now. And they don't. Three cats, a child and a ghost. How much more diverse can it get than that? But all that matters here is that we are friends. Right? That's what I'd like to be with all of you."

Wendy beamed. "Well, that sounds great to me." She stretched out her hand across the gap. "I don't think I'll ever say no to making new friends. No matter who they are."

"And that's exactly the sort of attitude that belongs in a true member of Fairy Tail," Mavis beamed back, reaching out to grip Wendy's fingers in her own briefly. The two girls shared a warm smile with one another before Happy interrupted the moment.

"Hey, everyone! I think I can see land ahead."

"Yes. So can I," Lily nodded. "That's definitely land. Still a fair distance away but we should be there before nightfall I imagine."

All attention was diverted to the greyish lump that stretched across the horizon in the distance. "Well, at least we have a destination now," Charla murmured. Wendy noted she was breathing a little heavier than usual after carrying her for so long but it was as if the sight of land gave them all a new purpose and they winged their way on.

* * *

"I mean honestly!" the loud voice of Molly Weasley rippled through the kitchen on Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London. "I had seriously hoped that now that he was back at school they'd just leave him alone. Is it not too much to ask just to let him enjoy this vital period of his education?"

She tossed down the latest issue of the Daily Prophet onto the table and huffed, fussing over a dishcloth as she moved over to wipe a plate with it. She could have used magic but she preferred to keep herself busy at times like this in a vain attempt to distract herself from everything that seemed to be going wrong with the Wizarding World recently.

Especially the Ministry's attempts to constantly find ways to discredit Harry. There were references to him in literally every issue of the newspaper now and none of it was remotely positive - little tidbits that painted him as some narcissistic, egotistical brat that craved the limelight and adulation of the Wizarding World as if it was some addictive drug and he was the junky, when in reality he was nothing but a stressed, desperate teenage boy looking for answers in an unfair world and not getting them.

"Well, if half the things that are being said in this article are true, he's not exactly helping himself," Remus Lupin murmured as he dragged the paper over to re-read it himself:-

BOY-WHO-LIVED SEEKS TO TERRIFY FELLOW CHILDREN

Essentially it was a report about how Harry was spinning nonsense stories about the return of He Who Must Not Be Named to his fellow Hogwarts stories, seeking to convince the younger generation to look up to him as some type of messiah and turn them against responsible adults who were trying to help them. There were a few statements from the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher of Hogwarts and Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Dolores Umbridge, about how Potter had angrily rebelled against her authority, insisting that the students should be learning how to throw dangerous curses at each other effectively rather than learn defence in a safe, secure environment and how he'd attempted to spread discord amongst the class with more lies about the Dark Lord and his return.

"He should be trying to keep his head down," Lupin murmured through tight lips. "He knows as well as any of us what the Ministry is doing, and he should know that simply getting angry at a Ministry official is only going to intensify their distrust of him. If he keeps this up I wonder how long it will be before the Ministry starts stating he might be trying to become the next Dark Lord."

"Oh, do you really think they would go that far, Remus?" Molly fretted slightly, turning around with wide eyes.

"These days, I wouldn't put it past them," Lupin grimaced, flicking the paper across the table, not wishing to see it any more. "At least Professor McGonagall's had a word with him about it. Hopefully he should dial it down now."

"Well, I don't know about you, Remus, but I'm proud of him," the current owner of the house and godfather to the boy in question, Sirius Black, strolled into the room with a sack covered in bloodstains.

"Finished feeding Buckbeak, I see," Lupin noted.

"What this?" Sirius raised the bag. "Nah. I thought I'd pop out and buy you a little something meaty to chew on next week."

"Ah-ha-ha," Lupin rolled his eyes and shook his head, but looked rather amused all the same. Sirius might make light of the fact that Lupin was a werewolf and that the full moon was not far away once again, but a long friendship with the man told Lupin he knew exactly how serious it really was. Lupin rather enjoyed the jokes. Even though he knew Sirius fully accepted him for who he was, the jokes helped to validate this acceptance. He didn't miss Mrs. Weasley's disapproving glance in Sirius' direction, but he decided not to comment. She didn't understand the dynamic of their friendship as well as they did after all.

"Anyway, as I said, I'm proud of him," Sirius nodded towards the paper. "He's standing up for what he knows its right and damning the consequences. You've got to admit that that takes guts."

"Indeed it does, but unfortunately guts are not what we need from Harry right now," Lupin pointed out. "What we need from him is patience."

"I get the feeling that that's not his strongest suit," Sirius murmured as he sat down and put his feet up on the table. "It's not mine either for that matter."

"Oh believe me, Sirius, we all know that here," Lupin snorted.

"I just hope he doesn't dig himself in too much deeper," Mrs. Weasley worried aloud. "Even if they don't go as radical as framing Harry for attempting to become a Dark Lord, how long before someone invents an excuse to cart him off to Azkaban or something. He won't survive a week in there."

"Well, speaking as someone who was in there for a good thirteen years and emerged with his sanity relatively intact, I'd say Harry would be alright. He's tough, that kid," Sirius acknowledged. "Shares that trait with his father. And his mother, come to that. All the same, I'm sure he'd have to do something pretty stupid for the Ministry to try something like that."

"Doesn't it worry you, Sirius?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "What the Ministry might be capable of doing to him?"

"Does it worry me? Of course it bloody worries me," Sirius sniffed. "But I have faith that Harry will be fine. If he starts acting too bone-headed I'm sure that Ron and Hermione will get him back onto the right course. Hermione's ludicrously bright for her age and Ron's got a good head on his shoulders. They'll steer him right, no question."

"I hope so," Lupin mused. "That boy can be awfully stubborn. Another trait he shares with his father. And mother."

"And me," Sirius grinned.

"And you," Lupin nodded with a smile.

It was at this moment that the fireplace suddenly flared to life with bright green flames and another redheaded figure stepped out of the flames. It was Bill Weasley, and he grinned at all and sundry as he shrugged off his outer robes and said, "Hey Mum, Sirius, Remus. Any chance I haven't missed dinner? I could use a good meal after all that hassle at Gringotts toDAGH…"

He was cut off from saying anything else when the fire flared again and another person stumbled out of it, colliding with Bill's back and sending them both sprawling into a heap on the ground.

"Ah, crap!" muttered the new arrival. "I hate travelling by Floo Powder I really do."

"Afternoon Dora," Sirius greeted his cousin as she and Bill struggled to disentangle themselves.

"Hoi! I've asked you not to call me that how many times now?" Nymphadora Tonks looked up with a scathing expression. "Would you please just call me Tonks, Sirius?"

"But your parents - my aunt and uncle, are called Tonks too," Sirius snickered. "I can't just call you that. Besides, Dora's much better than Nymphadora isn't it?"

"Yeah, but its not brilliant," Tonks murmured.

"I could always try Nymphie."

"Oh like hell you will."

"Uh… Tonks, as much fun as this is, do you think you can get off me now?" Bill grinned up from where she was straddling him.

Tonks swatted him, knowing he was only teasing, but clambered off him and almost tripped over a table leg, shaking her brown hair and screwing up her face, using her Metamorphmagus abilities to shift it back to her favourite shade of bubblegum pink, which was apparently too unprofessional for the workplace. Then she clapped her hands together and grinned, "So, what's for dinner?"

"There's quite a bit of Shepherd's Pie left over," Mrs. Weasley replied. "You can help yourself but… aren't we waiting on Kingsley? I thought that he was coming over with you tonight."

"Oh yeah, I'm meant to tell you, there's been a bit of a change of plans," Tonks snapped her fingers as she sat down and pulled over a decent potion of the leftover pie, whipping out her wand to perform a quick Reheating Charm on it. "Kingsley can't make it today. Something came up. Official Auror business."

"Care to give us the details or do we have to pull them out of you?" Bill asked, moving to wash his hands before he dug in himself.

"Well… did you hear about those weird shooting star thingies that they were yapping on about at on the Wizarding Wireless earlier today?" Tonks asked.

"Oh yes, I overheard something about odd looking meteors," Mrs. Weasley hummed. "I thought it was rather unusual but I'm not sure how they could be a cause for concern."

"Well… apparently one of them's been found," Tonks explained with a mouthful of pie.

"Found?" Lupin asked, leaning in with interest. "So they really did hit the ground?"

"Well, at least one of them did," Tonk replied. "This one in particular landed somewhere in a farmer's field not far from the city of Derby. But get this - if the things I've heard about it are true, it's sure as heck not a meteor."

"Then what is it?" Bill asked.

"We're not sure. But I heard it was like some kind of… glowing golden orb just sitting in the middle of the field like some kind of giant egg. About three metres tall and five metres wide according to the reports. But they're not sure what it is so Kingsley and a team of Aurors were dispatched over there with some members of the Department of Mysteries to help analyse it, see if it was dangerous or not. But really we don't know anything about it."

"How peculiar," Lupin pursed his lips slightly. "I don't believe I've ever heard of anything like that."

"Certainly is weird," Sirius agreed. "Does Kingsley think it really could be dangerous?"

"I dunno," Tonks shrugged. "That's pretty much all I know. Except… there was also something about the orb being kinda see-through. Just, like its really translucent. And apparently they think they can see something inside, but they don't know what it could be."

"That does sound troubling," Bill murmured. "Do you think this could be a move by You-Know-Who?"

"I rather doubt it," Sirius scratched his knee absent-mindedly. "Why would he do something so big and flashy when practically the entire Wizarding World refuses to believe he even exists right now. He's got the Ministry in just the position he wants them in right now, blind to his actions. He wouldn't risk exposing himself with something like this, would he?"

"I suppose it depends on what exactly we're dealing with here," Lupin stated. "We should probably relay this to Dumbledore. Find out what he thinks on the matter."

"Yeah, I agree," Tonks nodded. "And also, Bill, Kingsley did want me to let you know you might be called out there at some point. Said they might want a curse breaker on hand to try and figure out what's going on if the Department of Mysteries comes up stuck."

"I'll keep an eye out for the summons," Bill nodded in thanks.

"Still, this is a rather interesting turn of events," Sirius chuckled. "Wonder if the sky is going to throw anything else at us."

* * *

"Not much here, is there?" Wendy looked around after a good half an hour of walking. The sun was dipping down close to the horizon by now and once they'd reached land Wendy insisted on walking for a while to give Charla a break from flying. She was carrying the little Exceed in her arms while Lily and Happy hovered overhead, looking around at their new surroundings.

They appeared to have made landfall in a rather mountainous region, rugged cliffs stretching high above the seas and the hilltops rising even higher. Everything about the land was uneven, with jagged stones cropping out all over the place so Wendy was having to watch where she put her feet at practically all times lest she trip on something.

Mavis stood on an outcropping several metres higher with a grimace over her face. "I believe that we may be on another island," she said. "A rather larger island than Tenroujima but an island nonetheless."

"So we haven't found the mainland yet?" Happy asked, his ears drooping slightly.

"Seems not," Lily shook his head. "But perhaps its not far away. And there may still be something on this island that could help us. We should try searching for a settlement or something. See if we can find a map and someone to tell us how to read it."

"It doesn't seem like there's a town anywhere nearby though," Wendy murmured.

"True, but that doesn't necessarily mean that nobody lives close by. Some people do like to live in an isolated place after all."

"Yeah, like Porlyusica," Happy nodded. "She lives far out in the East Forest because she hates humans, but until you came along Wendy, she was Fairy Tail's best healer."

Wendy blushed and murmured, "Well, can we really say that I'm the better healer out of the two of us? Just because I can heal wounds and sicknesses with my Sky Magic doesn't make me better. She could know things that I don't. Maybe I should meet up with her if we ever get back. I bet she could teach me some new things."

"Good luck with that," Happy snickered. "She usually chases people away with a broom."

"…She sounds scary…" Wendy murmured.

"She is," Happy grinned unhelpfully.

"Anyway, to get back to the point," Charla coughed. "We should get about trying to find someone who lives close by, right?"

"Let's just hope that if this is an island there's at least someone on it," Lily agreed, rising higher to get the lay of the land a little more. "Maybe I can go on ahead, do a bit of scouting. I…" he stopped, and froze in the air, his eyes widening as something down on the ground below caught his eye.

And made his heart quicken.

"Huh? What's wrong, Lily?" Wendy caught his sudden silence and asked in concern.

"Um…" Lily hedged, going lower to try and get a better look at what he'd seen. "Maybe… maybe you should come and look at this."

"Well, that doesn't sound good," Charla muttered as the others hurried forwards after Lily, until they found themselves cresting a large rocky precipice and looking down into a dip in the ground below.

Wendy gasped and placed a hand over her mouth at what she saw.

Bones.

Animal bones.

Or, to be more precise, a single animal carcass lying broken on the ground. It's long legs and pointed skull indicated it had probably once been a deer of some kind. Indeed, there were a few snapped antlers lying nearby confirming this guess. But it wasn't the bones alone that was so shocking, nor was it the hideous smell that was drifting up Wendy's sensitive nostrils. It was the fact that every bone was blackened and charred like they were made of charcoal, burnt scabs of meat still clinging to them here and there. And the ribs were rent asunder as if something large had ripped its way into the poor thing to devour its insides.

"Oh my…" Charla's breath caught in her throat. "That… doesn't bode well…"

"What happened to it?" Happy trembled, clearly picturing something similar happening to him now. "What could have done that to it?"

"The entire thing is just… immolated…" Lily agreed, biting his lip and eyeing his surroundings warily, his hand going to the hilt of his sword. "But whatever the case, that thing was hunted and killed by some kind of giant predator. That much is clear."

Mavis looked dire. "We don't know anything about this world," she murmured softly. "But were I in our own world… I think I know what I would have guessed the attacker of this creature to be… and I think we should probably get out of here, quickly."

Wendy nodded in agreement and stepped backwards… but misplaced her foot and fell backwards with a sudden scream that echoed around the hills. She hit her shoulder hard on the ground and winced in pain, clenching her teeth to help bare it slightly.

"Wendy! Are you okay?" Charla asked worriedly.

"I'm… I'm fine," Wendy nodded as she sat up and rolled her shoulder slightly. "Nothing serious, nothing broken. I'm…"

She stopped, her eyes widening as she suddenly spotted something that none of them had noticed before. A short distance off to their right, nestled in something like a large basin carved out of the earth were several large black rocks. About ten of them all pressed up against each other and each one about the size of a basketball. The ground around them was singed and carbonised, just like that skeleton of the nearby deer.

But Wendy had a feeling in her guts… that those were not rocks at all.

"Um… are those what I think they are…?" she asked nervously.

"They look like… eggs…" Charla swallowed.

"We should leave," Mavis said immediately. "We should get out of here now before we…"

But she was suddenly drowned out by a sudden, massive roar that ripped through the air and seemed to wash over them like a tidal wave, battering their eardrums and practically rattling their insides. Wendy clapped her hands over her ears, but looked up suddenly with wide eyes as a large shadow fell across her.

A gigantic shape swept through the sky high above the cliffs, huge skeletal wings stretching wide on either side of it and four thick legs with viciously hooked claws on the end of its toes tucked in against its long, lizard-like body. Its long neck ends in a horned reptilian head with jaws that were almost akin to that of a crocodile crossed with an theropod dinosaur. It's tail was even longer and ended with a large, arrow shaped spike. Its underside was a deep, dark purple but the rest of it was pure black.

"ACNOLOGIA!" Happy screamed immediately. "HE'S BACK!"

"No!" Charla cried. "That's not Acnologia. Its a dragon, but it looks different and its not as big!"

"Let's get out of here!" Lily suggested. "If that thing's even half as strong as Acnologia we won't stand a chance against it!"

But Wendy pushed herself to her feet and waved her arms up towards the dragon, which was circling round in a great, sweeping arc and diving swiftly back towards them. "It's alright!" she shouted up to it. "We're friends! Please don't attack us!"

"Wendy, what are you…?" Charla gasped, but immediately threw herself upwards and activated her Aera, seizing Wendy by the back of her dress and hauling her out the way just as the dragon blasted a furious torrent of flames from between its jaws at the group, scorching a line of ash across the rocks as it swept towards them. The three Exceed scattered and Mavis levitated up and out the way, ducking her head as the dragon shot past her overhead and wheeled around for another pass.

"Wendy, are you okay?" Mavis called across to her.

"I… I'm fine…" Wendy gasped, a little shaken but turning back towards the dragon and screaming, "What did you do that for? We don't want to hurt you!"

"It must be a mother dragon protecting her eggs," Charla suggested.

"We don't want to hurt your eggs either," Wendy spread her arms wide. "Just stop!"

But the dragon ignored her and powered its great wings back towards her, the inside of its mouth glowing red hot as it tilted its body to shoot towards the young girl with jaws agape. Wendy and Charla both froze at the sight of the incoming jaws, frozen in momentary fear before suddenly Pantherlily crashed into them from the side in his battle form, scooping them into his arms and twisting out the way as the dragons jaws closed inches from his tail.

The dragon bellowed in anger and twisted its head around, pulsing a jet of fire at the giant Exceed but Lily folded his wings and dropped like a stone, dodging the blast. The dragon turned its head down to follow his progress and Lily flared his wings out again, levelling off inches from hitting the surface of the sea and shooting across it back towards the land, steam exploding up behind him when the dragons' flames connected with the water.

"Charla! Wendy! Lily!" Happy cried, flying towards them with a stick in his paws as if that would somehow help to defend them against the dragon, which was turning tightly in the air to come for them again. "Careful! It looks like this is a fire dragon, like Natsu!"

"STOP IT!" Wendy shouted. "PLEASE JUST STOP IT!"

"We have to go now!" Lily seized Happy in one hand and backed across the sky, the dragon closing in on them and blotting out the sun with its great wings, belching another jet of flame from between its teeth at them.

"Wendy!" Charla cried.

"Got it!" Wendy sucked in a great lungful of air and screamed, "TENRYUU NO HOUKOU!"

A crashing tornado of wind exploded out from Wendy's lips and met with the dragon's fire head on. The two attacks merged with one another and exploded outwards in a terrific fireball, Wendy's winds whipping the fire to greater heights than before but also pushing it back the way it had come towards the dragon. But the dragon's colossal frame whooshed out of the inferno with a furious snarl, mouth agape and teeth slicing down towards the group.

"Crap!" Lily cried and, with a heave of his arms, he flung Wendy, Charla and Happy to one side threw the air and took hold of his sword, swinging it with all his considerable might at the oncoming dragon. The blade glowed and grew in length until it was almost five times as tall as Pantherlily himself and just as wide, crashing into the side of the dragon's head and neck with a loud slicing crack.

This actually had an affect and the dragon screeched in surprise, thrown off course by the massive weapon and lurching back towards the cliffs. Lily threw himself out of the way just in time to avoid being smashed by one of its furiously flapping wings, but even as he tumbled in the jet stream the dragon created he noticed that his sword had sliced a shallow cut in the side of its neck through the thick scales. That was something of a relief. He'd hit Acnologia in the leg at least once during his attack to no effect whatsoever, which meant that at least this one was nowhere near as strong.

A slightly dizzy Charla had managed to catch both herself and Wendy, as Lily had guessed they would but still shook her head and griped, "A little warning next time."

Lily didn't answer, watching as the dragon flapped above the cliffs and landed with a heavy thumping noise on top of the rocks, turning its head round to hiss up at them angrily and rearing up onto its hind legs to spread its wings wide like an immense bat.

"Why won't you talk to us?!" Wendy shouted to it. "We don't want to fight you!"

"I don't believe it can talk to you, Wendy," Mavis rose up to hover next to her.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Wendy blinked. "All dragons can talk."

"In our universe perhaps. But we're in another world entirely. Look at this one. I can see no sentience in its eyes, no real intelligence in its demeanour. This isn't the same kind of dragon you know. I think this one is just an animal."

"That… can't be…" Wendy gasped in shock - the mere thought of an unintelligent dragon was nothing short of horrifying. But the dragon itself merely roared and lifted up into the air again, its tail lashing the air behind it as it twisted its head violently, breathing plumes of flame all over the place so a veritable wall of fire was pulsed up towards them.

"Let's get out of here!" Happy shouted as he and Charla dragged Wendy upwards and out of the way, Lily and Mavis close behind. "We've got no reason to stay here with a dragon like this!"

"Come on!" Lily agreed, shrinking his sword and diving back towards the land, the others in hot pursuit. "Stay low to the ground! It'll be harder for it to get to us down here!"

They other followed his advice, sweeping just overt the surface of the land but still hugging the coastline in their escape just in case they needed to duck out towards the ocean. The dragon swerved around and came after them nonetheless, pounding its wings as it blasted several fire jets madly down at them, but the nimble airborne cats weaved around to dodge them. Nevertheless the dragon was fast for its size and powered in low after them, landing briefly on the ground to blast another wave right after them.

"Wendy, I cannot defend you from this thing," Mavis called across to her. "I'm next to powerless in this form."

"Got it! We have to look after ourselves!" Wendy nodded, twisting around in Charla's grip and blasting out another vortex of wind from her mouth to the same effect as last time. "But why is it following us?"

"We must have made it angry!" Happy shouted.

"Hopefully it will turn back once we reach the edge of its territory!" Lily agreed.

Wendy sighed and spread her arms out. "Then let's get out of here. This should help. Oh swift wind that dashes through the heavens… VERNIER!"

The entire group, even Mavis, was suddenly surrounded by a greenish glow and they burst forwards, Wendy's Support Magic making their bodies lighter and raising their speed, leaving the dragon behind them. Wendy looked back over her shoulder sadly, watching the dragon trying to catch up with them and snarling through its reptilian jaws, blazing purple eyes burning after them.

"Sorry…" Wendy murmured to the animal before she turned around and focused on the path ahead.

Which is why she let out a scream when suddenly a second black dragon loomed over the rocks in front of them with a mighty snarl, spitting its own flaming blast forwards as they sped right into its path. Charla yelled and twisted wildly to the side while Lily grabbed both Happy and Mavis and ducked down, crashing to the ground and pushing them down as the searing heat washing over their backs, narrowly avoiding roasting them alive. Charla cried out as she tried to regain control of her flightpath after her violent motion but she and Wendy both hit the ground with a thump and went rolling across the rocky turf, Wendy narrowly avoiding plummeting off the edge of the cliff and into the water below.

"Wendy! Charla!" Lily shouted, but even as he rose up he was forced to clap a hand over his ears as the new dragon's terrific roar shook the clifftops. Lily looked up, expecting to see it looming over them and ready to fire down upon them at any moment, but no, the dragon was looking past them, jaws curled back in a vicious snarl.

Because the first dragon had not stopped chasing them and was bearing down on them with huge sweeps of its wings, before pulling up short and growling in return at the other dragon.

It seemed that the two of them were right on the edge of one another's territory and they both spread their wings and arched their necks, puffing themselves up to try and makes themselves look bigger in a display of strength. Lily immediately grabbed Happy and Mavis and tucked them under his arms to head over towards Wendy and Charla, who were both pushing themselves up. But then the first dragon spotted him and roared angrily, forgetting the confrontation with the second dragon and and barrelling towards him on all fours.

The second dragon evidently took that as a challenge and plunged forwards too, and the two dragons collided in a mighty scraping crash of scales against scales as the second locked its jaws around the first one's neck and heaved it backwards with a strangled squawk. The first dragon quickly forgot about its intended targets as it twisted its body around, locking its front feet onto the second's shoulder as and lurching it to the side, wrenching its neck out from between the other's teeth and batting its head aside with its own. The second dragon stumbled sideways towards Lily and the others, its tail smashing across like a giant bullwhip.

Lily kicked off from the ground and rose above the swinging tail but only succeeded in getting smashed in the back by a flailing wings and knocked forwards, rolling head over heels to try and regain his balance.

"Lily!" Wendy shouted as she pushed herself up.

"I'm fine!" Lily righted himself and grimaced slightly but turned around to face Wendy and head over towards her. "Come on! Let's get out of here while they fight it out!"

Wendy glanced back at the battling dragons and found her eyes fixed on the sheer ferocity going on before her. She couldn't tell which one of the two dragons was the nesting mother and which one was the newcomer anymore, but the two black dragons were viciously brawling it out. One of them was slashing at the others underbelly with its claws while it was having its wing mauled in the others jaws in turn.

But the one holding the wing twisted its head and brought the other dragon crashing onto its side, rearing up to deliver a fiery blast down on its floored opponent, only for said opponent to swing up its tail and smash it into its face, knocking it askew so the fiery blast torched the rocks nearby instead. The other scrambled up and lashed up with its jaws, snapping them around the jaws of the opponent and slamming them shut with a muffled screech of pain. The two of them thrashed their necks madly for several seconds before the one being bitten muscled itself forwards and started using its wings to beat and buffet the other one back, trying to force it towards the edge of a cliff.

"No…" Wendy whimpered with wide eyes. "This is… this is so wrong. Dragons shouldn't be fighting each other like this."

"This is a clash over territory," Lily insisted. "This sort of thing happens all the time in the wild."

"But dragons aren't wild… they can't be…"

Memories of her kindly and warm Dragon foster-mother, Grandine, came flooding back into Wendy's mind. Memories of how the great, white Sky Dragon had lovingly cared for her, nuzzled her when she was scared and told her stories just to see her smile. How she sheltered her from the rain with one of her own wings and took her for rides through the sunset sky. How she used to use the very tip of her tail to tickle Wendy's sides as delicately as if it was a human finger.

Everything that she was seeing now with the two dragons furiously clawing and beating at each other like mindless rabid dogs went against everything that she remembered Grandine to be.

And she couldn't stand it!

"STOP IT!" she screamed, throwing herself forwards and dashing across the rocks towards the two clashing goliaths.

"WENDY NO!" Charla cried.

"LEAVE THEM!" Happy agreed. "WE NEED TO GO!"

Lily cursed and wheeled around after her but was not fast enough to stop her from interrupting the battle. The two dragons were blasting fire at one another now, wheeling around each other in a maelstrom of whipping flames but they were both suddenly caught off guard as a whirling tornado smashed into them both from the side, accentuating their fires to wash over them both and staining their scales with soot as they both went stumbling sideways, roaring in pain as the winds battered against their scales.

When it subsided, the both of them turned their heads around to stare at the young girl before them, eyes pleading desperately at them, "STOP FIGHTING!" she yelled. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! IF YOU'RE NOT FRIENDS THEN JUST LEAVE EACH OTHER ALONE! PLEASE JUST…"

But her cries evidently fell on deaf ears when one of the dragons drowned her out with a terrifying bellow and suddenly pounded across the rocks towards her, slamming the other one in the neck with its tail as it passed to send it sprawling.

Lily sprang over Wendy's head and brought his enlarged Musica Sword straight down from above, slamming the blade hard into the top of the dragon's head and smashing it down into the ground. "That's not going to help, Wendy!" he shouted. "Go! Now! I'll hold it off!"

The dragon powered its head up and threw the sword aside but Lily brought it under control by shortening it and rocketing up and past the dragon, drawing its attention away from Wendy and enlarging the sword again to bring it cleaving out towards the dragon's head. But the dragon ducked underneath it this time with a coiling of its neck and blasted a gout of fire up towards Lily. But the Exceed allowed the swinging motion of the giant sword to carry him sideways and out of the way, rolling over to deliver a mighty upwards sweep that carved a line into the dragons' chest on its softer underbelly.

A terrific screech of pain that came from the dragon as a result practically broke Wendy's heart right there. There really was nothing sentient about these creatures. They were purely beasts. And she watched in horror when the dragon seized Lily's sword in its jaws and wrenched its head to the side, dragging the big Exceed with it before releasing the blade and sending Lily crashing into the ground hard enough to splinter the rock.

"Lily!" she screamed, and immediately thrust her hands outwards as the dragon bore down on its prey, recasting the Vernier spell onto Lily, who shrunk his sword down and exploded out of the way as the dragons claws came crashing down where he had just been.

_What was I doing? _Wendy hissed to herself in her head. _I just totally lost my head there!_

She guessed that so soon after Acnologia coming across too more vicious dragons rather than a kindly one like Grandine cut her deeply. But she had to get her act together and they had to leave.

"WENDY, LOOK OUT!" Charla screamed and Wendy whipped around to find the second dragon was back in action and was looking up off to her side, flames practically leaking out of its jaws as it thundered towards her. Wendy gasped and dashed out of the way, but it turned out the dragon was not actually after her but was steamrolling towards the other dragon while Lily was keeping it distracted. But, as it thundered past her and Wendy turned to cry out a warning to Lily, the dragon's tail crashed into the rocks next to her and smashed them into rubble and knocked Wendy flying…

…right off the edge of the cliff.

"WENDY NO!" Charla was immediately in the air and diving after her, Happy right behind. But the roar of the oncoming dragon alerted the other to its imminent attack and it swung around to douse the air with fire. The attacking dragon lurched out of the way and the fire whooshed on past it, straight towards the two small Exceed.

"WATCH OUT!" Lily cried and cannoned towards them, the Vernier still in effect allowing him to race past the fire and seize the two other cats before they could be burnt to cinders, but even as he dodged aside the edge of the fire blast scorched his back and one of his wings, bringing a howl of pain from the big, black Exceed as he crashed to the ground nearby, his back smoking.

"Lily!" Happy gasped in shock.

"WENDY!" Charla scrambled out of his grip and flew to the edge of the cliff, staring down in terror…

But there was no sign of Wendy. Just a foaming ripple in the water where she had hit the surface and vanished beneath it. "No!" Charla gasped, tears appearing her eyes. "Wendy, no!"

Lily grunted his pain and pushed himself back up, ignoring his searing back as best he could and growling. "Come on! It's not over yet! We need to…"

And suddenly the area was disturbed once more when several loud cracks ripped through the air and all of sudden several humans appeared all around the area, seemingly out of thin air. The Exceeds all blinked, momentarily distracted as the humans rushed towards the battling dragons, whipping out little sticks of wood from their flowing black robes.

"Conjunctivitis Curses on three! Let's break them up then we Stun them one at a time!" one of the humans shouted and a few seconds later several pinkish blasts of energy lanced out of the tips of the little sticks and struck all around the heads of the two dragons, some hitting them in the eye. Both the dragons bellowed and pulled apart, shaking and tossing their heads and lifting their front feet to scratch at their eyes, which the others could see were starting to turn pink and swell shut.

"Alright, we did it!" shouted one of the men, before he suddenly noticed Pantherlily standing not far away from him, sword still held tightly in hand. The man stumbled backwards and almost fell over, screaming, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Lily raised his hands. "We're not…"

"GAH! IT CAN TALK! STUPEFY!" The man pointed his stick at Lily and fired a reddish beam of light at the giant cat. Compared to most magical things that Lily had had thrown at him it looked rather meagre, but he was not stupid enough to let himself get hit by it when he didn't know what it was. He dodged sideways and ducked down into a crouch as the panicked man fired another one moments later, wincing at the pain in his back as he raised his wings and hoisted himself into the air.

"HOI! WILL YOU JUST…!" Lily started but suddenly several of the other humans were flinging similar light jets up at him. Lily brought his sword into play and expanded its length and width, catching several light bolts on the flat of the blade but grunting as his back panged at him. "Damn it," he muttered. "I don't have time for this!"

"Leave them, Lily!" Happy shouted, as Charla had already dived off the cliff towards the sea below. "We're making a bad impression here anyway. Let's just find Wendy and try and talk to people another time!"

Lily nodded in agreement and shrunk his sword down, dodging another red blast as he followed Happy over the cliff, yelping a little as he switched back into his smaller body and the pain somehow became rather more condensed with it. But he bore it as the three Exceed dropped down towards the ocean, searching for any sign whatsoever of the young Dragon Slayer.

"Wendy! Wendy! Answer me please!" Charla begged. "WENDY!"

* * *

A fair distance below the water, Wendy was sinking, a thin trail of bubbles glubbing out of her mouth as she drifted down into the depths. Normally a fall from that height, even into water, would have killed most humans or at least broken most of their bones, but Wendy had managed to cast an Armour enhancement spell on herself before she hit the cold water, sparing her from that. Nevertheless, she had still been knocked unconscious by the impact with the water and was now helplessly drifting downwards, unaware that she was even drowning.

But there was something else that was.

A grey-skinned and clammy hand slowly reached out to grip her firmly by the arm and drag her sideways through the water and away. Away from the three cats who were now frantically looking for her.

But not before Mavis, who had dropped beneath the water and was moving through it as easily as if it were the air since she was weightless and did not need to breathe, spotted what was going on and hurried after her.


	3. Making an Impression

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 3:- Making an Impression**

* * *

"What the hell kind of place is this anyway?" Gajeel muttered as he trudged his way down the pavement. After a night of walking, he had at last he had actually been able to get somewhere, following the coastline until he'd run into something that looked like a mid-sized village of some kind. But though most of it was similar to the kinds of thing he'd seen many times before, there were differences.

Namely, the roads. It seemed that every single lane between them buildings was designed to have cars and other vehicles going down it, while back home they were usually only ever used by pedestrians and drawn carriages. And there were so many vehicles as well - they were literally everywhere. Cars lined up behind each other half on and half off the pavement, while more breezed their way up and down in both directions intermittently. There were other larger vehicles that Gajeel couldn't even begin to name as well.

Most of the rest of it was vaguely familiar though, although some of houses were painted very strange colours. But there were also shops that when Gajeel paused to look in the window and see what they were selling… he hadn't a freaking clue. Things like weird boxes with screens that were playing moving images and all kinds of other things besides. None of it made any sense to him. Just where the heck was he, anyway?

There had been a sign on the way into the village when he'd stepped in through the road. A sign which read - Welcome to Portree. But Gajeel had never heard of it before and it certainly wasn't ringing any bells right now.

The people here certainly seemed no different either, although he was drawing a lot of stares. People seemed to stop and watch as he went past, and those that were on the same side of the street as him quickly crossed to the other side when he was heading towards them, mothers and fathers putting their kids behind them slightly. Gajeel couldn't help but smirk. Even bandaged and bruised it was good to know that people still found him intimidating.

There was one couple, boy and girl, who were kissing on a bench and didn't notice his approach until he was right in front of them. He paused and stared at them with a raised metal-studded brow before coughing pointedly. When they both broke apart and saw him, he offered them one of his most sadistic grins, and the boy yelped and scrambled over the back of the bench to crouch behind it warily while the girl seemed frozen in place.

"Well its clear who wears the skirt in this relationship," Gajeel snickered at the cowering boy before he turned to the girl and said, "So, would you care to tell me where the hell I am?"

"U…um…" the girl swallowed nervously. "You're, um… in Portree…"

"Yeah, I know that. But where the bloody hell is Portree? I need details, girl! What freaking country am I in?"

"You… you don't know which…?" the boy began before Gajeel sent him a glare that had him cowering again.

"I'm talking to your lady friend, bub," he growled. "A guy who jumps behind a bench to hide from a guy he's afraid of and leaves his girl unprotected ain't worth my time. So, girl… what country am I in?"

"Um… you're on the Isle of Skye… Scotland… United Kingdom…" the girl murmured slowly, waiting for some sign of recognition on Gajeel's face but finding none.

"…Nope… that don't help…" Gajeel muttered. "Let's try this instead. Does a place name Fiore mean anything to you?"

"Er… no… I don't… know that place…" the girl replied nervously.

"Where the hell has that bloody dragon sent me," Gajeel muttered to himself but he heaved a sigh and muttered, "Fine. Can you at least tell me where I can buy something metal? Like knives and forks or something. Heck I'd settle for a spork."

"Try… try over there," the girl pointed across the road and down the street to a shop with a sign on the front that read 'Co-Op.'

"Thanks…" Gajeel nodded curtly, turning and marching towards the shop, calling, "Your boyfriend's a wuss, by the way!" over his shoulder. Ignoring the cry of protest from the boy in question, he strode across the road, a car screeching to a halt to stop from hitting him. The driver of the car beeped a horn loudly at him, causing Gajeel to clap his hands over his sensitive ears. He growled and slammed his fist down on the hood of the car, crushing the metal and smashing into the engine inside. The whole street went silent as they stared in shock at this stunning act of vandalism but Gajeel merely shook his hand in the air and continued on as if nothing had happened.

But when he entered the Co-Op it was like another world entirely to him. "The hell is this?" he looked around the supermarket, staring at all of the rows upon rows of food. Customers scattered before him as he marched through, looking from side to side impatiently before he finally found some cutlery. He scooped up a couple of handfuls of them haphazardly and searched around for some place to pay for them. He spotted the till and joined the back of the queue, making the three people in front of him extremely nervous, as they kept glancing back over their shoulders at him, as if worried he was going to stab his cutlery into them.

Gajeel grimaced impatiently until it was finally his turn and he dropped all the shiny objects in front of the man on the other side of the desk. "How much for all these?" he asked.

The man coughed, looking Gajeel up and down slightly. "Er… are you sure you're okay there, son? You look like you should be in a hospital with all those bandages on."

"I'm fine. I heal quickly," he replied, which was true - the bodies of mages were generally far sturdier and tougher than those of regular people. "Now, can we hurry this up? I'm hungry."

"Don't you have any cutlery in the house already, sir?"

"If I had any cutlery I wouldn't be here buying some."

"I… see… well… you've got quite a bit here… so I'd say… that's fifteen pounds and sixty pence, please."

"…Fifteen what?" Gajeel frowned.

"Um… pounds. And sixty pence," the man said hesitantly.

"Is that some kind of money?"

"It's the currency of Great Britain, sir. Which is where you are…"

"Someone out there said I was in the United Kingdom."

"Well yes… but… um… don't you have the money, sir?"

"I've got about seven-hundred jewels," Gajeel reached into his pocket and pulled out the strange looking notes and placed them on the desk. "Can't you use this?"

"…I've never seen money like this before. Sorry, sir, but I can't take this money. I don't know the exchange rate."

"Shit," Gajeel growled loudly. "Well where am I supposed to get my hands on some pounds then?"

"Well, there's a bank down the street. Maybe they'll be able to exchange this money for however many pounds its worth…" the man was looking at Gajeel edgily now, as if he wasn't sure whether the Iron Dragon Slayer was completely sane.

But Gajeel looked nonplussed. "There's a what down the street?"

"A bank…" the man said, slowly, now sweating slightly. "You know… where you can take and store your money and then go and get it back when you need it?"

"Why the f*** would anybody leave their own money with other people?" Gajeel snorted. But he just grunted and said, "Fine. I'll be back for these. Hold them for me." And he stomped angrily out of the store and back into the street, taking his jewels with him. The automatic doors almost closed on him and he had to resist the urge to punch them before he stepped through them. What kind of messed up complicated place was this anyway?

So… where the heck was this bank place anyway?

When he finally found a place with a sign that read 'The Royal Bank of Scotland' and marched inside, he groaned when he saw another queue leading to the desk at the other side of the entrance hall. If he'd been in Phantom Lord still he would have punched his way to the front and have done with it. But, he was a Fairy Tail mage now and hurting innocent people needlessly was not their way so he reluctantly joined the back of the queue.

He got about halfway to the desk before the first gunshot went off.

Screams ripped through the bank as four men wearing black balaclavas and gloves barged in through the front door, each one of them carrying a firearm and one of them firing it up towards the ceiling, putting several holes in it. As Gajeel spun around to stare, everyone else in the bank immediately dove for cover, cowering on the ground even as the man firing the gun yelled, "Everyone hit the floor! Stay down and you won't get hurt! Unless you try and call the police - if we see anyone with a phone we will shoot them!"

The men spread out across the room, roving their guns from left to right to keep the entire room covered, the clerks cowering behind their desks. Gajeel was now the only one still standing and he looked around at the shock on the faces of the others. Clearly this place didn't get much crime and yet he'd walked right into the middle of something.

"You there, big guy! Get down on the ground now!" the speaker aimed his gun at Gajeel, who turned back to raise an eyebrow at him.

"The hell do you think you're doing, kid?" he glowered, guessing that the man with the gun couldn't be any older than eighteen. "Get that peashooter out of my face."

"This is a bank robbery! We'll be taking all the money in this place. And this is a real gun!" he lowered it to fire a shot near Gajeel's feet, making everyone else scream though Gajeel didn't flinch in the slightest.

"Take my advice, boy," Gajeel sniffed at him. "Go crawling back home to your mother. I'm sure she can prepare a nice warm bottle of milk for you to suckle on."

"I said get down!" the robber pointed the gun right at Gajeel's face. "Do you wanna be shot!?"

"Have you got the balls to pull that trigger?" Gajeel leered, glancing sideways to where one of the others, despite the situation had thrust a bag to one of clerks behind the desk and demanded they fill it up with everything that they had. "You ever killed a man before, son?"

"Have you?" the man replied, faltering slightly.

"Nah… but I've come pretty damn close many, many times," Gajeel grinned, socking one fist into his palm and cracking his knuckles. "And just about all of them were tougher than some wet-behind-the-ears airhead like you."

"You don't think I would do it?!" the robber yelled thrusting his hand out even further.

"You haven't pulled it yet," Gajeel took a step forward and then another, slowly advancing across the room towards the robber, who was shaking a little now. "I bet this robbery idea sounded much better on paper than it does in practice, huh? This bank place is a stupid idea anyway - I prefer to keep all my money in one place… where I can easily cave in the heads of anyone that tries to nick it."

"I'm warning you…!" the robber took several steps backwards towards the door - and by this point the whole room including the robber at the desk and clerk had stopped what they were doing to watch the altercation.

"Pull the trigger," Gajeel suggested with a harsh grin. "It won't make a bleeding bit of difference."

"Oh for God's sake," another of the robbers raised his own pistol, prompting Gajeel to swing around to stare at him instead. "I'll do it then!" And the loud shot flared through the bank, screams erupting from every corner of the room as Gajeel's head snapped backwards from the impact, teetering on the spot for a moment…

…before slowly bringing his head back downwards to grin at the stunned shooter. The bullet was caught firmly between Gajeel's teeth and as a wall of shocked silence fell over the room, Gajeel casually bit the bullet in half, catching the end that fell out in his palm and tossing it into his mouth with the rest of it, chewing noisily for several moments before swallowing.

"Not the most appetising meal I've had for a while," Gajeel grinned, grabbing the bandages that covered his torso and ripping them away, revealing the scars on his arm before he clicked his shoulder. "Got any more?"

"What… the hell… what did you just…" the second robber stumbled over his words, unable to form a coherent thought let alone a sentence.

"You picked one hell of a bad day to try this robbery," Gajeel snickered. And then he roared, "TETSURYUUKON!" and lunged forwards, his arm morphing into a blunt, flat-ended club that extended outwards like a piston and slammed into the robber's torso, shattering his gun and breaking several ribs while slamming him back against the wall hard enough to send him crashing straight through it.

The other three robbers, including the one that had been hesitant to shoot him, panicked and opened fire on him instantly, the other customers screaming and yelling as they covered their heads, shots flying over the top of them, only to bounce of Gajeel's skin, which had suddenly become iron scales and tinker to the floor around him.

Gajeel spun around and turned his feet into clubs, thrusting himself up into the air with them to fly across the room, slamming bodily into the robber by the desk and smashing him backwards, splintering the desk under the impact. Seizing the gun and yanking it out of his hand, Gajeel tore a chunk out of the metal with his teeth and chewed it down before tossing it aside, grabbing the robber by the front of his shirt and spinning around, blocking several more bullets from another robber with the metal palm of his hand. He then sprang into the air, heaving the robber up with him and spun him around, seizing him by the leg and flinging him downwards to crash into his partner.

The one closest to the door that Gajeel had been talking to balked and dashed out and away, while the other two scrambled to their feet. The only one still armed immediately pointed the gun at a woman on the ground and yelled, "Back off, man! Or I'll shoot this…" He didn't get any further before Gajeel's arm shot forwards across the room on extending metal, his hand seizing the gun and slamming it up into the robber's face before he spun into a sweep kick, his leg becoming a club and lengthening in mid-swing to catch both the robbers in the stomachs and send them crashing back across the room.

"Shouldn't have done that, mate!" Gajeel growled, taking a deep breath. "Cos that made me angry! TETSURYUU NO… HOUKOU!"

With an explosion of magic, a huge grey breath attack burst out of Gajeel's jaws, a tornado of Iron Dragon power filled with little shards of metal blasting across the room and enveloping both the yelling robbers, slamming them into the air and flinging them backwards. The attack smashed into the wall of the bank and blasted it to rubble, stone and brickwork cascading out into the street as the robbers were flung outside to sprawl, unconscious on the pavement with several broken bones and lashes across their skin from the metal shards. They were almost run over by a car whose driver had lost control with shock at the sight of half the bank being blown away.

Gajeel powered out after them and landed on the pavement, cracking it under his feet as he swung around in search of the final robber. He spotted him through the window of a car that was furiously pulling away from the pavement, the panicked robber behind the wheel as he shot off down the road and away. But Gajeel dashed out behind the car, summoning a green magic circle in front of his hand and morphed his arm into a spear, levelling it at the back of the retreating vehicle and ignoring the screams of the pedestrians.

"TETSURYUUSOU: KISHIN!" he bellowed and fired a multitude of large spears out from his arm in rapid succession, like a mini gun filled with giant arrows. The spears punctured the boot and the back tyres, bringing the car to a screeching halt as the driver was slammed into the wheel, having forgotten to put his seatbelt on. He cringed as another spear smashed through the back window and skewered into the radio right next to him.

The robber scrambled out of the car, only to find Gajeel had already crossed them distance between them. "No, please…!" he yelled as Gajeel seized him by his shirt and hauled him upright. "Don't… don't kill me!"

"I ain't killing ye," Gajeel rolled his eyes. "But let me ask you, do you think crime pays now?"

"No! No, it doesn't! No way!"

"And will you ever try and and take what don't belong to you again?"

"No, never!"

"Good!" Gajeel grinned, before he slammed his iron forehead into the head of the robber, knocking him out. "I'll take your word for it."

But, as he dropped the limp body to the ground and deactivated his iron scales, Gajeel looked around him at the people who'd seen this altercation. Almost every one of them was staring at him in abject horror and fear, except for a couple of children who were trying to run towards him crying, "Mummy, it's a superhero! A real superhero!" only to be held back by their wide-eyed mother.

"What the hell are you all looking at?" Gajeel growled. "You never seen a mage before?"

Dead silence met his question and Gajeel's eyes widened when he realised… no, they hadn't. They'd never seen anything even remotely like him before.

Again, the question sprang up in his mind - where the hell was he?

He glanced back towards the bank and saw about a dozen people watching him through the massive hole he'd torn in it with his breath attack. Nobody moved to congratulate him. Nobody even seemed to want to move lest they drew attention to themselves.

"Looks like I've overstayed my welcome here," Gajeel muttered. "Well… at least that bank thing is still standing… just about. And at least I got myself a meal."

He tore several strips of metal off the robber's car with his bare hands and tucked them under one arm for later. Then, without a backwards glance, he turned and legged it, dashing away until he was out of the town and heading back into the wilderness.

* * *

Kingsley Shacklebolt sighed to himself as he tried hard not to pace back and forth. Thus far, it seemed that there was very little reason for him to actually be here. He and several of his fellow Aurors, but the order of Rufus Scrimgeour, had been stationed out in this farmer's field for a whole night. It was already well into the next morning by now and as of yet, there seemed to be very little reason for the Aurors to actually be there.

The sphere just sat there in the middle of the field, partially buried in the ground and no matter what the members of the Department of Mysteries had done - all these little experiments they'd been performing that Kingsley couldn't even begin to make sense of - they couldn't seem to make heads or tails of it. At least not that Kingsley could see.

All the Aurors could do was patrol around it and make sure that the charms they'd set up repel Muggles and keep them from noticing they were there stayed in place. Because the sphere itself seemed to be very little threat.

Although, having said that, Kingsley had gone right up to the edge of the Sphere and peered in through the translucent wall. And although he couldn't make much out, he could tell there was something inside it. Two somethings actually if he wasn't mistaken.

"Sir!" called out an Auror from the edge of camp. "That Curse Breaker that you asked for has arrived."

"Thank you, Dawlish. Send him over," Kingsley nodded, his deep bass voice almost seeming to instil a calm in everyone around him. He had to suppress a smile when he saw Bill Weasley trudging across the campsite, being escorted by none other than Tonks.

"Wotcha, Kingsley?" Tonks winked, totally ignoring the fact that he was her superior and she was supposed to address him accordingly. She glanced at the sphere and murmured, "Jeez, is that the thing you're guarding. It really is weird."

"Weird doesn't begin to describe it, Nymphadora," Kingsley replied.

"Don't call me that!"

"We don't have the faintest idea what this thing could even be," Kingsley went on, ignoring her objection. "And the fact that it apparently fell from the sky just adds another mystery to the pile of ever-growing puzzles. And you…" he turned to Bill. "You must be William Weasley, I assume."

"Call me Bill, sir," Bill extended a hand and Kingsley shook it firmly. Of course the two of them were already acquainted what with being members of the Order of the Phoenix, but they had to be careful about appearances. After all the Ministry were always on the lookout for people who might be 'conspiring' with Dumbledore, so they had to keep up a pretence that they didn't know one another.

"Tonks here says that you're one of the best at what you do," Kingsley replied, keeping the act up.

"Well, I would hardly say that, sir. There's lots of great Curse Breakers out there."

"He's just being modest, Kingsley," Tonks grinned. "We were at Hogwarts together though, so I know what I'm talking about. He was a whiz at Ancient Runes and stuff like that."

"Good to know," Kingsley nodded. "I know your father reasonably well. Very nice man, so its a pleasure to be working with you. But tell me, Bill. If you're so good with runes, do you have any idea what that thing on the side of our mysterious orb might be?"

He pointed over towards the sphere in question, specifically at the glowing symbol that blazed proudly on the side. An image that looked vaguely like a cross between a bird and a comma, a pointed head like section at the top left with several wavy upward spikes extending out towards the top left and a single, long tail like projection sticking diagonally downwards from right to left.

Bill stared, non-plussed, at the Fairy Tail symbol. "I've never seen anything like that one before, though I have seen a few strange things in my time in tombs. Can I get access to it?"

"Of course," Kingsley nodded. "Just let me get these Department of Mysteries goons out of the way so you can have unimpeded access.

After that, Bill spent a good half hour walking around the sphere, examining it at seemingly every possible angle, flicking out his wand and murmuring several spells under his breath with seemingly no visible results. He spent a particular amount of time staring at the symbol, flicking through a large tome of Ancient Runes in an attempt to track down its origin but he, of course, found absolutely nothing.

Eventually he stood up and nodded for the other two to come over. "Well?" Kingsley asked hopefully.

"It's like nothing I've ever encountered before, sir," Bill shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Usually when it comes to strange magical phenomenons like this there are small chinks in the magical barrier, tiny little avenues which a Curse Breaker or anyone that knows how can exploit to find a way to undo the spell. But with this, there is nothing. It is, quite simply, a flawless shield against anything and everything that seeks to force its way inside. And its strong too - I can feel its sheer power."

"Is it dangerous?" Kingsley asked.

"Oh no, I wouldn't say so. I believe its perfectly harmless. But I also bet that if we were to summon one thousand wizards to perform a blasting curse at this sphere at the same time it would remain totally unaffected. It puts the basic Shield Charm utterly to shame. I bet… that this would even be able to block the Killing Curse."

Kingsley's eyes widened. The Avada Kedavra Curse was notorious for being one of the few curses that remained utterly unaffected by even a Protego Maxima. But if what Bill said was true and this could… oh if only they could harness its power for their own. All the Aurors that would be saved from Dark Wizards haphazardly throwing Killing Curses around with something like that… it would be nothing short of amazing.

"But, if this is something like a Shield Charm…" Tonk stepped up to the side and squinted in through the wall. "Then what's it shielding? Isn't there something in there?"

"We believe so, but we cannot really make them out. Can you see them, Tonks?" Kingsley replied.

"I can see… something," Tonks murmured. "Looks like… a person of some kind. No, wait… two people. Yeah it definitely looks like two people, though one of them's really large and the other's quite small in comparison. Lot shorter and slimmer. I can't work out if they're boys of girls but I'm sure there's people in there. They aren't moving though. It's like they're… frozen stiff or something."

Bill stepped over to peer in as well. "Looks like there's definitely something in there," he agreed. "But I don't think I can break into this. What do you think you'll do with the sphere?"

"I suppose the proper course of action would be to take it back to the Ministry and hold it within the Department of Mysteries until we can make some more sense of it," Kingsley grimaced. "We certainly cannot leave it here out in the open. Though how exactly we're going to move it is anybody's guess…"

"Sir!" Dawlish suddenly scrambled over, waving a note in his hand. "We've got an urgent message from Scrimgeour. It looks like there was some kind of magical attack on a Muggle Bank up in Scotland. Some village named Portree on the Isle of Skye."

"The Isle of Skye?" Kingsley looked alarmed, his eyes unconsciously meeting with Tonks and Bill's. They were all of them thinking the exact same thing.

The Isle of Skye was not far away from Hogwarts School.

"Dora, you're with me. Mister Weasley, it was a pleasure to meet you but if you don't feel that you can work on this case any further then please feel free to leave. But I thank you for your co-operation."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," Bill replied, but he got Kingsley's silent message - go and tell the Order about this immediately.

"Everyone else stay here until we return," Kingsley replied, and he and Tonks immediately whirled around to disappear with a cracking noise, Disapparating into thin air.

* * *

When they appeared again, it was to a shocking sight. The area was already filled with wizards who seemed to be trying to track down and use Memory Charms on just about everyone in the town. And for good reason. One wall of the bank had been practically ripped to shreds and there were a couple of wizards and witches pulling large metal spears out of the back of a car, staring at the razor sharp blades in morbid fascination.

"Ah, Shacklebolt, Tonks…" a slightly gruff voice hailed them from across the street, and when they saw Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour waving them over they both hurried to join him. "Glad to see the two of you could make it so quickly."

"What happened here?" Tonks stared up at the shattered wall. "That must have been one heck of a Blasting Hex."

"Something like that, I guess," Scrimgeour murmured.

"Do we know what motivated an attack like this?" Kingsley asked. "The position of the rubble suggests to me that this attack was fired from the inside of the building. But why would someone want to attack a Muggle bank at all, let alone from the inside like this? Was there any money taken?"

"None, as far as we know. But the reports indicate that this was carried out by a single man. We were wondering if it could be Sirius Black."

Tonks had to resist the urge to growl - Rufus didn't know her cousin was an innocent man after all and she was not meant to know it either.

"I rather doubt it," Kingsley replied. "All the information I have been gathering on Black suggests that he is most definitely overseas."

"Well it would not be the first time Black attacked a crowded area full of Muggles, although thankfully there were no deaths this time. But the reports don't really make much sense to me. There was talk about his skin turning to metal and shooting spears out of his hands and… I don't know, it all sounded utterly ridiculous to me."

"Well, you know how Muggles can be when they see something they don't understand," Kingsley pointed out.

"Indeed, but I've got some of my men patching into the camera network," Rufus replied. "We intend to erase all traces that can be linked to magic and play this off as some kind of gas mains explosion or something like that. Standard procedure."

Kingsley nodded. Honestly, the amount of CCTV the Muggles had around now was making it increasingly difficult to keep the Statute of Secrecy in force. And it was predicted only to get worse as the Muggles tried to make themselves feel safer but adding bunches of cameras everywhere since they couldn't do protective enchantments. But at least the Auror Department had a few wizards in it that actually knew what they were doing with modern Muggle technology. After all, no spell had been invented to change the images recorded on a video camera.

But suddenly a woman stepped out of the bank and called, "Sir! You should… probably come and see this."

"What? See what?" Scrimgeour turned and hurried forwards, Kingsley and Tonks on his heels.

"It's the Muggle security cameras, sir. We've found the recorded footage of what happened. It's not Black that did this sir. But actually, it seems like the person doing this was defending the bank from a Muggle robbery rather than attacking it sir. The Muggle robbers in question were rounded up by their police before we got here but… you should really see this."

She led them all into a room with several monitors - a Muggle man sitting in a chair in a magically induced sleep until they had finished working. But when the images on the screen began to play and the Aurors all watched the feed of the wild-haired, bandaged man battling it out with the robbers… they could do nothing but stop and stare.

"Dear God," Scrimgeour murmured as he watched the man blasting some kind of metallic tornado out of his mouth. "What the hell… have we stumbled across?"

* * *

When Bill stepped back into Grimmauld Place shortly afterwards to relay the news… he paused and blinked in surprise. The usual crowd of the middle of the day were all gathered - it was usually only Sirius, Remus and his mother that were here around this time since everyone else was at work, although occasional Mad-Eye or Mundungus could be found hanging about.

But Bill hadn't been expecting to see the oldest Weasley brother after him sitting at the table tucking into his mother's delicious cooking.

"Charlie?" he faltered. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, Big Bro," Charlie replied with a smirk, standing up out of his chair and walked over to embrace his brother who hugged back. Charlie was shorter and stockier than Bill but was physically stronger and more muscled and had so many freckles that there was almost no part of his face without them.

"It's great to see you," Bill replied. "Of course it is. But I thought that you were staying in Romania to try and recruit foreign wizards to the cause against You-Know-Who."

"And I have been," Charlie replied. "I'm not staying long. But I got an urgent message this morning from the MacFusty clan to come back to Britain. I thought I'd take the brief opportunity to say hello and get something good before I move on."

"The MacFusty clan?" Bill asked, with a frown.

"I have mentioned them before, you know," Charlie replied. "They're a Wizarding family up in Scotland that have taken on the responsibility of looking after and managing the population of Hebridean Black dragons. We've worked together a few times - I've taken a few Hebridean Blacks off their hands and transported them to the Dragon Reserve when they've had problems with overcrowding."

"Oh yeah, I remember now. What do they want you for?" Bill pulled up a chair alongside his brother.

"I'm not actually that sure," Charlie replied. "It said in the letter that a couple of the dragons clashed over territory, which isn't unusual. That happens all the time with that species. But they said something about the dragons having received strange injuries that they don't think were inflicted by one another and they wanted me to take a look."

"You mean something else attacked a pair of dragons?" Bill asked with wide eyes.

"Looks like it," Charlie nodded.

"We were just discussing what in the world would be foolish enough to try such a thing when you showed up," Sirius added. "But we've been coming up with squat. Less than squat really."

"Anyway, what about you? How did the work with that fallen sphere go?" Remus asked.

"I came up with about as much as you did for the dragon attacker," Bill shrugged. "But that's not what I came to talk about. Kingsley wanted me to tell you that apparently there's been some kind of attack on a Muggle bank. One not that far from away from Hogwarts, on the Isle of Skye."

A hush fell over the room as all of the occupants looked at each warily - all thinking the same thing.

"The Death Eaters wouldn't attack a Muggle Bank, would they?" Mrs. Weasley fretted. "It can't be them."

"Well, if it was not them, then who could it have been?" Sirius asked.

"It may still be an entirely unrelated incident," Remus said calmly. "We cannot lose our heads so quickly. The Death Eaters are not the only malignant Wizarding force out there, even if they are the most prominent at this time."

"Now I'm wondering if this could be related to the dragon attack," Charlie suddenly voiced. "The Isle of Skye is in the Hebrides as well after all."

After this statement they all fell into silence, consumed by their own individual thoughts. But they were all thinking pretty much the same thing… there had been a slight surge in bizarre, unexplained events in the last day or two. What was going to happen next?

* * *

"WEEENNNDDYYYY! WEEENNNNNNDDDYYYYYY! WHERE ARE YOU!"

"Charla, I don't think that's going to help anymore," Happy murmured dejectedly as he floated along beside the frantic white-furred Exceed.

"Well, what do you suggest?" Charla rounded on him and snapped angrily. "That we just sit back and do nothing! What would you be doing if it was Natsu out there?"

Happy flinched back and hung his head slightly, making no comment since he knew he would be doing pretty much the same thing. Charla's expression softened when she saw his reaction and she sighed, placing a paw on her head and murmuring, "Sorry… it's just… I'm so worried about her. Where could she have gone."

"We're all worried about her, Charla," Happy replied, reaching across to touch his paw to hers reassuringly. "But we're going to find her. And we're going to find everyone else too, just like we said we would. We always pull through don't we? And Wendy's tough. She'll be alright."

Charla nodded, feeling a little better but unable to stop the gnawing worry in her gut. She let Happy touch her paw for several seconds before she slowly drew it away. "I know. I just don't know where to start looking."

The two Exceed were flying over the ocean once more, scanning the waves below for any sign of the young Dragon Slayer. Mavis was not far behind them, accompanying Lily and keeping an eye on him. The ghost had lost sight of whatever it was that had taken Wendy away last night quite quickly but she'd been able to deduce it was following quite a specific, straight course and it had pulled upwards to make sure Wendy could breathe so it clearly wasn't interested in killing her. At least not yet. When she'd lost it, she'd doubled back to tell the Exceed and they were proceeding along the path that the creature had taken, but the cats had all worn themselves out to the point of exhaustion so Mavis had eventually forced them to come and get some rest, floating on top of a buoy not far from the shore of another island.

Lily was not in the best shape. He was a tough little thing but the burn on his back was obviously paining him a great deal. He'd allowed Mavis to rub salt water onto his back last night to help with the healing, which was the best Mavis could do for him. But the burn did look better today and Lily was a tough little soldier. He kept pushing on, refusing to slow the search for Wendy down because of him.

"What do you think that creature was that took her away, First Master?" Lily grunted as he bobbed along in the wind. "Did you get a good look at it?"

"Unfortunately, no," Mavis replied, shaking her head. "All I saw was that it had a fish-like body and greyish skin and scales. I know what I might have assumed it to be if we were still in our own world. But we are no longer in our own world. Who knows what creatures lie in wait in the waters of this world that we don't have in our own."

"That is true," Lily nodded. "In the world I come from, there are no real dragons, whereas in the world you come from there were no Exceed until Edolas sent one-hundred over through the Anima. Perhaps this world has both Exceed and dragons. Perhaps the Exceed are as dumb and wild here as those dragons were too. We simply cannot say."

"Exactly," Mavis replied as she floated along after Charla and Happy. "But I think I know what it could have been. But even if I am right… what would they like in this dimension?"

* * *

Wendy groaned slightly and coughed, water spraying from her mouth slightly as she screwed her eyes up and rolled onto her back. She didn't have the faintest idea where she was but when she opened her eyes it was dark. In fact, the only light source seemed to coming from a pool of water next to her, which was glowing slightly in a strange ethereal way.

She waited for her eyes to adjust to the gloom and discovered she was in a small cave of some kind, low rocky ceiling above her and several ledges and boulders dotted all over the place. There was no sign of an exit but Wendy could smell a very faint breeze that implied it opened somewhere, but wherever that somewhere was it was probably only a very small opening.

But how had she got here? The last thing she could remember was falling off a cliff after the attack from the two black dragons. She was still very wet so she definitely hit the water below but… what had happened in between? Where were her friends? Were they alright? She didn't have a clue what had happened to them - for all she knew they could have all been eaten by the dragons!

"Charla?" she called out into the darkness, nervously. "Charla, are you there? Happy? Lily? First Master, Mavis? Is anyone here at all?"

The only thing that answered were her echoes.

Until the water next to her suddenly bubbled and rippled slightly. Wendy started and drew back away from it, watching with wide eyes as… something came out.

It looked humanoid but it had distinctly none-human qualities such as its sallow, pale-grey skin, bright yellow eyes and wild green hair that hung around its head like a large clump of seaweed. She couldn't see it that well in the darkness but she could swear that its jagged teeth were also very yellow. And, although she really had no idea, it looked a bit like a young boy. If it were a human she would have said he was roughly her age.

The grey-skinned boy cocked his head sideways, curiously staring at her.

"Um… er… hello?" Wendy tried nervously. "Did you… did you bring me here? Was it you that saved me?"

The boy didn't reply and continued staring, so much so that Wendy started to feel extremely unnerved by it.

"Do you… can you… understand what I'm saying?" Wendy tried.

The boy opened his mouth and Wendy immediately clapped her hands over her ears as a high-pitched, piercing scream came out. Wendy's screech of pain instantly mingled with his own, scrambling away from him and hunching her head to bury her face against her knees as if this would somehow help.

The boy looked rather unhappy at this reaction and stopped screaming. Wendy slowly raised her head to look at him again but as soon as she did, he started again. She pressed her hands harder over the sides of her head, but watched the boy curiously. It was almost like he was trying to communicate but it wasn't happening right.

Eventually the boy appeared to give up and dived back down into the water, a large fish-like tail splashing the surface as he went. Wendy blinked at that. Had that been a part of him?

That was… a merman? Or a merboy? Whatever you called a young merman…

If it was it was unlike any merman that Wendy had ever seen pictures of. And it was certainly nothing like the only actual merperson she knew about and that was Lucy's Water Bearer Spirit, Aquarius. Although, having said that, Wendy had never actually met Aquarius before. Lucy never liked calling her outside of battle situations because Aquarius usually got angry whenever she summoned her at all. And Wendy had never actually been there whenever Aquarius had been summoned before. But she'd seen pictures of her and knew well that she didn't look a thing like that. Aquarius was a beautiful woman, looking entirely human from the waist up.

That merboy… not so much.

But where had he gone?

Was he coming back?

And where was she?

Eventually, after about half an hour or so, the merboy returned, rising out of the water once more and pointing wildly at Wendy with one finger. And this time, more were with him. Two adults, both of them female, or so Wendy assumed from the pebble necklaces and the cloths around their waists they wore, rose up with the boy to stare at her as well. But they were no more human looking than the merboy, and they certainly wouldn't have won any beauty contests. Their eyes were bulging and their faces seemed shrunken, giving them fish-like qualities even on their upper half.

"Um… hello…" Wendy murmured, hugging her knees and staring at them. "Please, can someone tell me where I am?"

One of the mermaids let out a similar high-pitched scream to the boy with Wendy reacted strongly to once again. The mermaid in question grimaced and, when she regained Wendy's attention, she began to beckon to her, bidding her to come closer to the water's edge.

"Um… why do I need to…" Wendy questioned. "You're not going to scream again, are you?"

The mermaid shook her head as all three of them backed away from the edge. Wendy brightened, finally knowing that at least they could understand her, and crawled slowly towards the edge. She'd already spent the half an hour the boy had been away trying to find an exit and failed so she had nothing to lose really.

But as she drew closer to the edge, the mermaids and merboy sank back beneath the water. Wendy blinked, waiting for them to come back up, but after half a minute or so one of the mermaid's grey hands rose up and waved her downwards, trying to indicate for her to come into the water.

Wendy faltered slightly, hesitant to enter an environment where she couldn't breath with a bunch of strangers. But, thinking quickly, she summoned some of her Sky Magic to manipulate the surrounding air and use it to form some kind of air pocket around her face. As she slowly leaned over the side to poke her head into the water, her head and hair were promptly soaked, but her face including her mouth nose and eyes remained dry, though she had to concentrate hard to maintain the air bubble in this environment.

It turned out there were several more merpeople down there. Mermaids and mermen, adults and children alike, all of them staring at her with interest. And finally the reason for the glowing water was explained - the place was dotted with dozens of bioluminescent fish that were flitting about like underwater fireflies.

The mermaid who had beckoned her was at the fore and this time when she opened her mouth, words came out.

"That is in an interesting trick you have there," she said, her voice slightly hissy and raspy but still quite coherent. "And I hear that you have many more unique tricks at your disposal, human girl."

"Um…" Wendy murmured. "Why do I have to be like this when we talk?"

"Because we merpeople cannot speak above the surface of the water. The air distorts our vocal chords and only allows us to scream in our own tongue rather than form the words of yours."

"Oh…" Wendy murmured, deciding not to mention Aquarius being fine with this just in case it hit a sore spot. "Well… can you tell me why I am here? I'm grateful to be alive but… where am I? And who are you?"

"I am Murcus, the Chieftainess of the merpeople of the Great Lake. And you are in a cave deep underground. This young merboy is responsible for bringing you here after you fell off a cliff, according to him."

"Oh, well… thank you for rescuing me…" Wendy smiled at the boy, who looked somehow sheepish.

"He did not rescue you," Murcus shook her head. "Not really. If that had been his intention, he would have simply dropped you off at the beach next to where you fell. Instead, he has dragged you many dozens of miles to reach this place."

"Dozens of miles?" Wendy gasped. "But… why would you do that?"

"He did it because he is an adventurous boy who doesn't follow the rules," Murcus glowered at the boy, who cringed and hid slightly behind another mermaid, possibly his mother, who also looked annoyed at him. "It is against the rules of our colony for children his age to head out of the lake and go to the sea without supervision. Sea-going merpeople are not as peaceable as we are and if they had found him wandering through their domain they would surely have attacked. But he wanted to go on a little adventure, and when he was on it, he saw something he thought was interesting - a young girl with the ability to fire a tornado out of her mouth fighting against a dragon. So, what does he do? He brings the girl back with him so that he can show her off to his family and friends, like a funny shaped rock or a colourful shell. Conveniently forgetting the fact he would be in trouble as soon as he got back."

"Oh…" Wendy murmured, looking perplexed. "Does that make me… a souvenir? Are you going to keep me here?"

"No, you do not belong down here," Murcus shook her head, her long heir floating erratically like a kelp frond. "We have nothing you would need to survive down here, so we will take you back to surface world shortly. However… the boy's tales have peaked our interest. Can you really fire a tornado out of your mouth?"

"Well… something like that…" Wendy giggled.

"Could you show us?"

"Not in here - there isn't enough room," Wendy shook her head, before she noticed something - one of the mermen had something that resembled a large bitemark on his arm, recently made by something Wendy didn't dare guess at. "But maybe I can show you something else. Can you come here?"

The merman looked to Murcus questioningly, who nodded and he flicked his tail and moved over until he was next to Wendy. Wendy instructed him to hold his arm out and raised her hands over his bite-wound, her palms emitting a greenish glow as she focused her magic into them. The merpeople watched in stunned amazement as every trace of the bitemark swiftly vanished, leaving not a mark in sight, as if it had never existed.

"Well, I'll be," the merman rolled and inspected his arm. "Maybe I should keep you around until I finish training that pet Grindylow of mine."

"It seems you are indeed something new," Murcus hissed in appreciation. "I have never seen anything of the the like before, though admittedly my contact with the surface world is limited."

Wendy smiled but said, "Now can you take me back to my friends?"

"Unfortunately… no…" Murcus shook her head.

"Huh? Why not? You said you'd let me go."

"And we will. But we cannot return you to your friends because this numbskull," she reached out to bop the boy on the head with the staff of her crude trident. "Can't remember exactly where he was when he found you. We have no idea where to go to return you to your friends."

"What?" Wendy cried. "But that's… that's just…"

"Keep calm…" Murcus sniffed. "We will not just take you up to the surface and leave you to wander around. We will take you somewhere that is safe. You can begin trying to find your friends again from there and you may even have a good deal of help in doing it from other humans."

Wendy brightened. So there were other humans in this world after all? Well, that was a relief at least. It was hardly the solution that she was after but that seemed to be her best option right now, so she merely nodded her head. "Okay," she said. "Sounds like a plan. Thank you so much."

"We apologise for the extreme inconvenience this must be," Murcus replied.

"It's fine, it's fine. Maybe if he hadn't brought me here, I might have drowned. I don't know what happened after I was knocked out… I just hope all my friends are okay."

"Come…" Murcus extended a greyish hand out to her. "You will need to hold your breath for it is a long way back to the surface from here. Frankly I am surprised you survived the trip here through the underground tunnel."

"Well… I have very good lungs…" Wendy chuckled, reaching out and taking Murcus' hand. One by one, the merpeople turned and swooshed back down into the darkness.

Wendy lifted her head back out of the water and took a deep breath before she plunged all the way in, Murcus whisking her down the tunnel like it was some kind of chute. Wendy's Sky Dragon Slayer lungs meant that she was capable of holding her breath for a good five minutes if she wanted, but the water was incredibly cold and she didn't want to be in it for any longer that necessary, so she stretched her hand forwards and silently cast a Vernier spell on all the merpeople present.

There were yelps of shock as suddenly they all blasted forwards much faster than they'd ever gone before and when Murcus looked down at Wendy, the young girl could only give her a thumbs up.

Murcus chuckled. "I wonder what Albus Dumbledore is going to make of you."


	4. Sky Dragon at School

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 4:- Sky Dragon at School**

* * *

Wendy was pretty sure she would have gotten hypothermia or something on the journey the merpeople were taking her on if she hadn't known a couple of spells to keep herself from doing so. The water was so cold! But she bore it, because she had little other choice,

When they'd finally breached the surface once again after leaving the cave, Wendy had spent the rest of the journey travelling on the back of the merchieftaness, Murcus. The merpeople moved swiftly and sleekly through the water, their powerful tails spurring them onwards at what Wendy could only assume was at least forty miles an hour, possibly more.

But she also noticed that they were swimming against the current, taking her further upriver, which meant that if her friends were still out to sea she was actually heading further away from them. But she knew there was very little she could do about that right now. She had to get herself into an environment that she could actually live in, because right now she couldn't remember the last time she'd had to hold her breath so much, since the merpeople seemed to prefer swimming underwater and Murcus was the only one who ever rose to the surface at regular intervals to allow Wendy to take a breath before ducking back down again.

For a Sky Dragon such as Wendy, this was not too much of a strain, but she was fairly certain that many of the others in her guild would have struggled with this, with the obvious exceptions of Juvia, who could both breathe underwater, and Lisanna, who could become a fish and therefore also breathe underwater.

It was not too long before Murcus finally said, "This will be another big one, girl. Take a deep breath when I go up to the surface again."

Wendy nodded her head, unable to speak back while underwater, but did as bid - sucking in a huge lungful of air moments before Murcus plunged down, down, down until Wendy was pretty sure they were underground again. Almost all the light was blocked out and Wendy couldn't see a thing, so she didn't bother trying to. She closed her eyes against the strong current rushing into her face, bubbles trailing out of her nose as she fought to bear it out until she felt the fresh air on her face once again.

When she finally did, it came with a shock and she coughed and gasped, sucking in precious air as quickly as she could just in case Murcus wanted to dive again. When she didn't and Wendy realised they had slowed down considerably, she sat up a little and pushed hair and water out of her eyes.

When she opened them and saw what lay before her, she gasped in astonishment.

It wasn't the massive lake that made her gasp, though that was impressive, stretching outwards for what Wendy assumed was at least a mile, possibly more. No, it was what was on the shore of that lake which made Wendy gape in disbelief. She'd seen a couple of castles before when she'd gone to Edolas, and both the Royal City and Extalia had been extremely impressive in their own way, but that did not diminish the splendour of the castle before her right now.

With towers that seemed to pierce the sky, the fortress was constructed in a manner that didn't look like it should be physically capable of standing up - an assorted mish-mash of bridges and turrets and towers suspended over thin air and only attached to the rest of the building by the smallest of margins… there was no way that this place could be real unless it was sustained by magic. And boy, Wendy could feel that magic. She could taste in on her tongue - a veritable haze of magic that blanketed the entire area around her like some type of fog.

"What is this place?" Wendy gasped. "I've… I've never felt anything like it before…"

Murcus had to pull Wendy back underneath the water to answer her, powering through the water in the direction of the shore, a phalanx of merpeople behind her. "That is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where all young humans in this country go and learn how to use magic. We just happen to live in the lake next to it, but we are on good relations with their Headmaster, who is capable of understanding us even above the water. He is a very good man, and we recommend that you seek him out when you head up there. Tell him of your problems and I am sure he will attempt to help you. His name is Albus Dumbledore. Remember that. Albus Dumbledore."

Wendy nodded her head slightly, grunting her assent under the water as the merpeople streamed her along. Dear gosh, she had so many questions. Witchcraft and Wizardry? Headmaster? School? She'd never been to school - they were rare in Fiore and generally only the richer higher-class bothered to send their children to them while everyone else taught their children what they thought they needed to know from home. Which had been what Grandine had essentially done with Wendy until she'd vanished mysteriously seven years ago…

No… wait… thirteen years ago now. Mavis had said she'd spent six whole years frozen in time inside the Fairy Sphere.

A dull throb of sorrow pulsed through her at the thought. Had Grandine noticed her absence? What if the Sky Dragon had decided to start looking for her only to find that she'd vanished off the face of the world. What if Igneel and Metalicana had started doing the same with their own Dragon Slayer children? She had no idea of knowing but… for the first time… Wendy found herself hoping that Grandine had not been looking for her. The thought of not being there to meet her mother when she came back for her… was nothing short of heartbreaking.

But she forced herself to think about the situation at hand instead. There was nothing she could do about Grandine right now. Her other friends who actually were in this universe were more important at this point.

Albus Dumbledore… she had to remember that name.

And it was at this point that she saw something in the distance. Some kind of… dark shadow… slipping through the water like a huge torpedo, but she was unable to make out what it was through the gloom.

Until it came closer…

…and a massive tentacled beast came sweeping over in their direction, huge wide eyes piercing the darkness of the depths as it rose up into the light and each of its ten tentacles flexing to push itself forward towards them.

"GGHHNNM!" Wendy glubbered, bubbles pouring out of her mouth as she kicked around, trying to warn the merpeople. "Shghgh mhrnnstrtrtr. MNNRHSTRTRTR!"

"Calm yourself, child," Murcus chided her with a hiss. "We know it is there and there is nothing to fear from it. That is merely the Giant Squid that shares our domain in this lake. He is perfectly friendly, I assure you."

Wendy blinked, staring at the incoming shape and focusing her magic to create two air bubbles over her eyes to get a better look, which was easier to do now that they were not moving so fast. The Giant Squid arced lazily in one big circle until it pulled pulled up alongside the swimming merpeople, one huge eye rolling down to inspect Wendy briefly. Wendy reached up a hand and waved uncertainly, and she was sure that the Squid started waggling one of its tentacles a little more vigorously as if to wave back.

But then several of the younger merpeople broke away from the group, including the boy that had snatched her away in the first place, and homed in on the squid, which spurted away with a large cloud of ink. The young merpeople motored after it and started chasing the Squid round and round in circles in a way that at first seemed to be something like a hunt but the silly grins on the faces of the young merchildren told Wendy that this was just a silly game. And apparently the Squid seemed more than ready to indulge them, moving at incredible speed considering its massive bulk and weaving in and out and around them, slapping a couple of them gently backwards with its longest tentacles whenever they got close.

Wendy smiled beneath the water as she watched the game, wishing she could join in to some extent. It seemed there were new surprises for her every other minute in this world. What the heck would she find when she finally got back onto land?

* * *

It took something rather extraordinary to surprise Luna Lovegood. Yet today was the day she would be.

"Are you quite certain?" she was saying to the merman poking his head out of the water down by the Hogwarts boathouse. "I'm sure I saw one down here just the other day."

The merman rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Dabberblimps are very good at hiding," Luna pointed out. "You may have been living in the lake with them all your life and you would never know they were there. Can you not check for me one last time? My father would be ecstatic to learn there was a population of them in the Hogwarts Lake."

The merman shook his head again.

"I see. Well, that's a shame. Can you at least promise to keep an eye out for them for me?"

The merman nodded his head this time, already certain he would have been looking out for these Dabberblimps even though he was fairly certain they didn't exist.

"Thank you. And now I…" she stopped when she saw an incoming stream of bubbles and saw flashing shapes beneath the water that indicated the presence of more merpeople, and sure enough several more heads with long straggly hair and protuberant slightly fish-like faces emerged. But the head that caught Luna's attention in particular had long, smooth dark blue hair, and looked distinctly human.

"Oh… hello…" said Wendy, blinking as she wiped the water from her eyes and rolled off Murcus' back. "Can you give me a hand?"

"Oh, certainly," Luna stepped to the side of the pier and reached down to take the sopping wet hand of the strange girl and haul her out of the water, aided from behind by a couple of mermaids pushing her gently out. Wendy tottered slightly, shivering under the effects of the cold breeze against her wet skin, but she turned back to smile at the merpeople.

"Thank you for everything," she bowed her head to them. "I really appreciate your help and I hope I can visit again."

The merpeople smiled and screeched slightly before with several lithe, flashing splashes, they were gone.

Wendy suddenly felt hands running through her hair and turned around curiously to see Luna holding up some of her blue locks curiously. Wendy blinked at this strange behaviour, suddenly feeling slightly perturbed, but then it dawned on her that this was actually the first human she had set eyes on in this dimension. And thank goodness she at least looked normal.

But apparently Wendy herself didn't, because Luna asked, "Are you a Metamorphmagus?"

"Am I a what?" Wendy blinked.

"A Metamorphmagus. They are witches or wizards who are born with the ability to change their appearance at will, like their height, facial features, hair colour. I ask because your hair appears to be naturally blue rather than dyed."

"Um… no, I can't do that. But my hair is naturally blue."

"Really? How strange."

"It is?"

"I have never heard of anyone having hair that was naturally your colour," Luna shook her head. "And I have heard of a lot of things that most other people don't even believe in."

"Oh…" Wendy looked down at her hair. It had never been deemed an odd colour before - there were several people she knew that had blue hair - Juvia, Levy, both Jellal and Mystogan… but now suddenly she felt very much like an odd one out.

Well, this was another universe…

"You're cold," Luna observed and Wendy remembered she was shivering.

"U-um… yeah… yeah, I am."

"Hold on," Luna slowly pulled out a small wooden stick and said, "We covered this one in Charms just the other day." She jabbed her wand in Wendy's direction and Wendy gasped as she instantly felt herself grow warmer, nice and toasty from the inside out, making her wonder if this was what Natsu felt like whenever he ate fire.

"Wow… thanks," she smiled pushing more damp hair out of her face.

"I have a towel for you too if you want to dry off," Luna went on, picking up her nearby bag and pulling the towel out. "I always bring one with me when I come down here. You never know when a Dabberblimp will pop up and squirt you in the face."

"Thank you. What's a Dabberblimp?" Wendy asked as she took the towel and began drying her hair with it.

"Oh, it's a small fish-like creature that's actually totally flat for most of the time but when it wants to get away from people it swells up to the size of a beach ball by sucking up a load of water and then expels it rapidly to shoot itself above the surface of the water, where it then sucks in air instead and floats off to a place of safety."

"Wow… I've never heard of it," Wendy replied.

"An astonishing number of people haven't," Luna replied. "By the way, my name is Luna Lovegood. What's yours."

"Oh, I'm Wendy. Wendy Marvell. Pleased to meet you," she instantly bowed her head low as she did whenever meeting someone new.

"I have decided that I like you," Luna replied with a smile. "But why are you here? You're not a student so why have the merpeople brought you to the school? Did they find you lost and thought this would be the best option?"

"Um… yes. Just that," Wendy nodded. "One of them saved me from drowning and I got separated from my friends… I'm supposed to go and talk to someone named Albus Dum… Dumblee… oh no, I've forgotten."

"Oh don't worry, I know who you mean," Luna nodded. "That's the Headmaster. He's funny and very nice. He found me lost in the corridors once in my first year and walked me all the way back to my common room then told me it was a crime that my father had not ended up on a Chocolate Frog card yet."

"Chocolate Frogs?" Wendy looked rather alarmed.

"They're not real frogs," Luna replied simply. "But the company who makes them used to mix Fwooper droppings into them before my father called them on it. Anyway, do you want to go up to the castle and find the Headmaster?"

"Yes, that would be great. Thank you. Thank you so much," Wendy smiled, falling in step beside the taller blonde girl as she rubbed at her back with the towel and they headed up the stone steps from the boathouse together.

"So, what about you? You must be a witch, right?" Luna asked.

Wendy was momentarily affronted before she remembered that Murcus had called this place a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry… so she decided to take Luna's words with a pinch of salt. "Erm… no, I'm not. I'm a Mage."

"A Mage?" Luna's eyes widened slightly. "Like some sort of shaman? For healing people?"

"Well… I can heal people but no, I'm not a shaman," Wendy replied. "I'm a…" she hesitated wondering if she should actually mention she was a Sky Dragon Slayer. Did they have Dragon Slayers in this world? And if they did, what were they like? Would anyone believe that Wendy wielded the magic of dragons within her? She doubted it, so she just said, "Sky Mage. I use Sky Magic."

"What does that do?" Luna asked.

"Well… a lot of things," replied Wendy. "I can heal people's injuries, cure fevers and purge poison, and I can give people power boosts when I need to… and I manipulate air any way I like. Watch…" she closed her eyes briefly and Luna shivered slightly as she felt the air currents change a little, and begin to whirl around them to make their hair whip around briefly before Wendy opened her eyes and the wind died down again.

"Is there any chance that my father can write an article about you in our weekly magazine?" Luna asked. "You're really interesting. You don't even use a wand."

"Um…" Wendy blushed slightly. "I… I wouldn't have to do a… a… photoshoot would I?" she squirmed, remembering all the pictures she'd seen of Mirajane in bikinis in numerous copies of the Weekly Sorcerer back home.

"Oh no, you'd just have to show him what you can do and he'd write about it. This is all so fascinating."

Most people would have probably been questioning if they were dreaming or not at this stage on wondering what the heck Wendy's deal was. But not Luna Lovegood. She was well aware that there was still a great world of mystery out there even now, so the idea of someone with magic she didn't even recognise was not even that shocking to her. It was as if she had always known that this was the case or something.

"So then if you can use magic, that means you can see the castle, right?" Luna went on.

"Um… yes, I can see it. Why?"

"Because when Muggles look at the castle, all they see is an old, unstable looking ruin. It's meant to keep them away."

"Oh. Okay…. what's a Muggle?"

"Do you not know?"

"Would I be asking if I did?"

"Fair point, but it is surprising that you don't know the word for non-magical people. Does not every magical person know that?"

"Oh… I see. We don't call them that where I come from. We just call them… people. Like the rest of us."

"And where do you come from?" Luna asked, as they ascended the top of the steps and they began to walk out onto the grounds.

"Well I…"

Wendy was about to launch into a big explanation but suddenly her attention was distracted by something in the distance, and for a while she forgot about everything important. She forgot about her friends, about her position, about finding this Dumbledore person. She could only stare in amazement at the distant figures of what were unmistakably people flying around in the air.

"Wow…" she gasped, shading her eyes for a better look. "What's going on over there?"

"That is the Quidditch pitch," Luna replied.

"What's Quid Ditch?"

"It's a sport with lots of funny rules where all the players fly around on broomsticks."

"Broomsticks?" Wendy asked, excitedly. "You mean like in all the stories? Oh, can we go and see this? Please. I'd really like a look."

Luna smiled dreamily and nodded, laughing slightly as she watched Wendy hurry off towards the pitch and followed at a more leisurely pace, gliding as if she was some type of ghost.

If she'd been paying a bit more attention, she might have noticed that the people on the broomsticks were wearing green.

* * *

Draco Malfoy was feeling smug. Smugger than usual, that is. And after all, why should he not feel smug? Here were the Slytherin Quidditch team, fresh out of tryouts and effectively owning the pitch during this practice session. It was the first one they'd had this year but most of the players knew exactly what they were doing and were extremely adept at flying their Nimbus Two-thousand-and-Ones. The only ones that were under-performing were Crabbe and Goyle - his own personal flunkies who had only just taken up the positions of Beaters on the team for the first time.

But they were getting to grips with it much faster than they did with most other activities. But then again, their role on the team involved smashing things and that was one of the things they both knew and liked to do best. All they needed to work on were their flying skills but anything that allowed them to pelt Bludgers at people seemed to be a crucial skill for them and they were really applying themselves to it.

And the reason for Malfoy's smugness was because of just how badly the Gryffindor Quidditch Team had done yesterday on the pinch. Especially the Weasley boy in his year - Ron. Oh God, that had been beyond hilarious watching him dropping the ball or damaging his own players with it when it was his turn to throw it! What a useless oaf he really was.

"Oi, Malfoy!" suddenly the new team Captain who had taken over now that Marcus Flint had left, Montague, pulled up alongside him and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Pay attention. I know what you're thinking and I won't deny its hilarious, but the fact remains Potter is a better seeker than you need to sharpen up your skills in finding the Snitch. We ain't just got this in the bag cos Weasley's a terrible Keeper."

Malfoy bristled slightly, fuming at the thought that Harry Potter could possibly be better than him at anything. But he knew better than to retort. Instead, he just cracked a smirk and said, "Yeah, yeah, fine. But you know, I was thinking of writing a little song for our house to sing during the match. Something to help throw Weasley off his game even more. And, with any luck, it would even distract Potter a little. You know, cos he'll be watching his friend's reaction rather than the Snitch."

Montague snickered. "I like the sound of that, but that still doesn't change the fact that Potter is better and he has a faster broom so don't leave it to chance, alright?"

"Yeah, I got it," Malfoy rolled his eyes.

But just as he was about to resume the search for the Snitch, they were hailed from the other end of the pitch by the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley.

"Hey, Montague!" he waved his arm. "Looks like we've got ourselves some extra spectators too!"

Slytherin play came to a stop as all seven of players looked down to the entrance of the pitch. Aside from a few extra Slytherin house members who had turned up to sit in the stands and egg the practice on, there were now two girls standing down on the grass below.

"Oh dear lord, it's that Loony girl from the year below me," Malfoy sneered as he recognised Luna. "Always hanging out with that Weasley girl. Total weirdo that one."

"Well, who's that with her?"

"…Dunno. Don't remember seeing a girl with blue hair in the school before."

"Well, either way, we sure as heck aren't having little spies watching our new techniques," Montague muttered as he pulled around and zoomed down towards the spectators. Malfoy snickered and followed suit, the rest of the airborne players slowly following on.

Wendy waved as they approached but when she noticed the ugly look on Montague's face she slowly lowered her hand and looked suddenly much more wary.

"Hey, get lost, Loony," Montague barked at Luna, who was watching a ladybird crawling over her hand absent-mindedly. "Why don't you go stick yourself in a bin where you belong. A Loony Bin."

"Oh, a bin," grinned Malfoy. "I might use that one in the song about Weasley."

"Go ahead. Now buzz off, you metal little weirdo."

"My father says that those who feel the need to bully others are actually very insecure about their personal status amongst their peers," Luna looked up and said conversationally to Montague. "Are you worried that your team won't take you seriously as the new captain?" she nodded towards the bright captain's badge pinned on his lapel. "Because if you are, I'm sure that a nice sit-down and an inspirational speech would do a better job than yelling at a girl three years younger than you."

Wendy blinked as she stared at Luna in amazement. To most people that would have sounded like an attempt at a comeback, but Luna said it in a manner that implied she was just making an observation and trying to be helpful about it.

Montague, on the other hand, didn't take it very well and dismounted his broom. "You wanna repeat that girl? Or should I just sweep you up like the garbage you are and find that bin for you."

"I don't think you'd actually be able to sweep a human being with a broomstick," Luna replied.

"No, but I could still raise a lump on the back of your head with it! I said get lost!"

"Hey!" Wendy objected and stepped forwards, glaring up at the boy that she guessed was probably around the same age as Natsu or Gray. "You leave her alone. She just came here to let me see the people riding on the broomsticks! You don't have to be so mean!"

"And who are you supposed to be?" Montague sneered down at her. "What the heck is up with your hair, puny one?"

"There's nothing wrong with my hair," Wendy huffed.

"Hold on a moment," Malfoy suddenly strode towards them and used his broom to poke Wendy in the stomach quite a bit harder than necessary. "You're not a student. You can't be, with those weird clothes and stranger hair. You're not from this school, are you?"

"No… no I'm not," Wendy replied. "But…"

"Then that means…" Malfoy whipped out his wand and pointed it right at Wendy's face. "You're trespassing. What are you, a Muggle girl? Oh, please tell me you are. Can you imagine the look on Professor Umbridge's face when she finds out that a Muggle got past the Hogwarts wards? She'd have a field day."

"I'm not a Muggle, I'm a Mage," Wendy glared at him.

"A Mage?" Malfoy laughed. "Who do you think you're talking to, girl? You think I'd be so gullible as to believe that?"

"What's a Mage?" Crabbe asked, interrupting the conversation.

Malfoy rounded on him to glare at him for asking what he considered a stupid and pointless question, but Wendy answered him anyway. "Mages are magic users that specialise in certain areas of magic, although they can learn other kinds. And this one's telling you to leave her and Luna alone."

"This is quite an odd sensation," Luna added. "I don't usually have people that defend me from the bullies except for Ginny."

"That's because that blood traitor is as stupid as you are," Malfoy retorted. "But since you came all this way to see us play, why don't we give the both of you the best possible view? I say we hang them by their underwear from one of the Quidditch posts and Miles has to stop us from hitting them with the Quaffle."

"But then I wouldn't get a turn to do it," Miles snickered. "And I wouldn't get in any practice because I'd be hoping you hit them."

"True, but I still say we should try it," Malfoy sneered. "Teach this little brat not to tell lies to us before we hand her over to Umbridge."

"I'm not lying!" Wendy glared, her wind picking up around her slightly but not really enough to notice. "Why are you being so mean? We've not done anything to you."

"It's probably because of the way they were treated by their parents," Luna nodded sagely. "They've probably been extremely bullied themselves by their families so they don't know any better."

"…Are you insulting my father, you little guttersnipe?" Malfoy suddenly growled and stepped forwards.

"Oh, it looks to me that the Seeker has taken over as the leader for the taunting," Luna observed. "Maybe that inspirational speech won't be enough after all, team Captain."

"Oh you think that's funny do you?" Montague shouldered past Malfoy and seized Luna by the shoulder, practically throwing her backwards hard to come to land on her back painfully. "Well, I happen to think that right there was funny…!"

There was laughter from the Slytherin team and spectators both at this, but it suddenly died in all their throats when they noticed Wendy's hair was now flapping around wildly and dust was rising from the ground around her as a small whirlwind seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere around her.

"If there's one thing that I don't like," Wendy murmured, her quiet voice still somehow audible to everyone even so. "It's a bully picking on younger children. Especially friends like Luna. I don't normally get angry like Natsu-san or Gajeel-san… but you've gone and done it."

"What the hell are you d…" Montague started, but was interrupted when Wendy thrust her arms out to either side of her body and generated a magic circle under each palm.

"Arms! Vernier! Enchant!" Wendy cried, her young eyes blazing slightly before she suddenly burst forwards across the short gap between them, her fist enshrouded in wind as she delivered a powered-up punch right to Montague's chest that lifted him right off the ground and sent him flying backwards to crash into his fellow Chaser, Adrian Pucey, both of whom skidded across the ground and rolled to a groaning stand-still.

"Bloody…!" Malfoy cried and leapt backwards and out of the way as Wendy turned around to face him. The third Chaser of the team, Cassius Warrington, yelled in sudden anger and pulled out his wand, charging in towards Wendy and throwing two Stunning Spells at the young girl. Wendy didn't know what those flashes of red light were going to do if they hit her of course, but she was not stupid enough to stand there and find out. Instead, she zig-zagged past them at blazing speed and sank her foot into Warrington's gut, bowling him over backwards with a thumping crash that laid him out, winded and bruised, on the ground.

Malfoy swore and immediately mounted his broomstick and kicked off and away, not wanting to risk being on the ground with this girl who was blatantly far, far tougher than she looked. The other four members of the team had evidently felt the same way. Crabbe and Goyle both looked rather stumped, as if they just couldn't fathom the fact they were apprehensive to approach a little girl for fear she might knock them over - that had never happened to them before.

"Just leave us alone!" Wendy called up after them. "I don't want to fight, but I will if you make me."

Bletchley growled and wheeled around low on his broomstick, drawing out his wand and yelling, "Impedimenta!" firing off the freezing jinx right at Wendy, assuming he was safe from such a height. He was wrong, and Wendy proved it to him by diving forwards and rolling to avoid the jinx and then jumping, literally leaping up twenty feet into the air with a wind-powered bounce to kick up at him. Bletchley was so shocked by this that he didn't act in time and was kicked right off his broom, which went spiralling out of control while he tumbled to the floor. Fortunately for him though, Wendy caught him on the way down and slowed his fall with the aid of her winds, but not enough to stop the landing from incapacitating him.

Malfoy immediately rose much higher, reaching for his own wand and trying to come up with something that would work, but Crabbe and Goyle seemed to have their own plan and had zoomed up to meet the Bludgers that were still whizzing around the pitch looking for a target. The black balls came whizzing down towards the two Beaters as if they had been fired out of cannons but Crabbe and Goyle displayed considerably more agility in the air than they did on land and swerved around them, smacking them with full force down towards Wendy…

…who caught one of them in her bare hands thanks to the effect of Arms and used it as a bludgeon to slam the other one into the ground.

As the Slytherins watched, gobsmacked, Wendy had a momentary flicker of realisation that she was acting surprisingly like Natsu. Usually when it came to battles she preferred to stay on the sidelines and power up the others, maybe throw in a breath attack every so often when there was an opening to. But she was a Dragon Slayer and was not to be underestimated, and this time none of her friends were present. She was fighting alone, and she knew it. It was a fact that was driving her to fight harder.

It was then that she realised that Crabbe and Goyle had opted for another approach and were shooting in towards her from opposite directions with their bats raised, seeking to hit Wendy with them instead of the Bludgers this time. But Wendy tossed the Bludger in her hands aside and spans around, sweeping her hands through the air and yelling, "TENRYU NO… YOKUGEKI!"

The massive flurries of wind that she expelled from her arms engulfed Crabbe and Goyle before they knew what was happening and they went crashing into the ground and rolling across the pitch for some way before being brought to abrupt stops by a wall for Crabbe and one of the Quidditch hoops for Goyle.

Malfoy blanched and stared in shock, unable to comprehend what he was seeing, but this was the point where several of the people in the stands seemed to come to their senses. Some of them turned to run but some of them drew their wands and began firing an assortment of curses and jinxes right at Wendy.

But Wendy saw the flashes of light coming out of the corner of her eye and danced backwards at high speed, the effects of Vernier still very much in evidence. Sucking in a lungful of air she blew it back out again fiercely in a breath attack that swept up across the stands, low over the heads of the students - meant more as warning shot than anything but still reducing the top three unoccupied rows of the stands to splinters in the windy maelstrom.

All this was something that caught even Luna's full attention, and she'd now gone past curiosity and into amazement. She stared at the girl who must have been two years younger than her in astonishment, in awe of the destructive power she seemed to be able to wield. How come she'd never heard of anything like this before?

Malfoy though quickly saw an opening while Wendy's back was turned and cried, "Petrificus Totalus!" launching a full Body-Bind Jinx at her from behind.

This might have worked if he had learned to cast spells non-verbally.

But Wendy's keen hearing heard his shout and she cartwheeled to the side, staring up at the blond boy with eyes as hard as flint. She then realised that she'd found herself next to a fallen broom and stared at it for a couple of seconds.

Should she?

Why should she not?

The Sky was her domain after all.

But she'd never used a flying broomstick before. She didn't know what she was doing.

But, moments before she grabbed it, a ridiculously loud voice echoed suddenly around the pitch. "WHAT IN BLAZES IS GOING ON HERE!"

Wendy clapped her hands over her ears and fell to her knees, wincing slightly, and looking up to see a woman in long robes with short greying hair and goggles on her forehead looking around at the scene in disbelief, her eyes locking on Wendy with an angry glare, and her wand pointed at her throat to magnify her voice.

"Oh, good afternoon, Madam Hooch," Luna said conversationally as she stepped over to the adult woman. "My friend Wendy was just fighting off a bunch of bullies for me. And quite fantastically too, I should probably say."

"Lovegood, who is this girl?" Madam Hooch blinked owlishly. "She is not a student - if she was I would recognise her from flying lessons. And what was happening - I could see some kind of windstorm going on and…"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Wendy immediately bowed her head so low it went past her knees. "I… I think I got a bit… carried away…" she said, sheepishly. Wow… she got carried away? Her? That wasn't like her at all… but she actually felt rather proud of herself despite her embarrassment and dismay.

After all, as Natsu always said, going overboard was what Fairy Tail did best.

But it was this point where she was suddenly hit from behind by an Impediment Jinx from Malfoy and was suddenly frozen in place.

"Draco!" Madam Hooch gasped. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Protecting the school, Madam," Malfoy replied quickly as he swooped in to land not far from Wendy, pointing at her accusingly. "That girl is dangerous! She was using some kind of strange magic to try and kill us in an unprovoked attack. Look at the damage she's done!" he gesticulated wildly to the remains of the stands that had taken a hit from her breath attack.

But even as Hooch looked and Luna opened her mouth to object to Malfoy's words, they all became aware of Wendy… mumbling something… and her body beginning to glow a bright yellow colour.

"Anomaly… Resistance… Enchant… Re-raise!"

And she abruptly unfroze and swung around towards Malfoy, sweeping her hand through the air to generate a wind gust that knocked him over onto his back.

"That's a lie," Wendy turned back to look imploringly at Hooch. "Please, I didn't come here to cause any trouble. I'm here to see the Headmaster. I got lost and was found by some of the merpeople that live in the lake and they're the ones that brought me here. They said the headmaster would be able to help me find my friends."

"Madam!" Malfoy cried as he pushed himself to his feet again, noticing the brush of his broomstick had been partially squashed in his fall. "Did you just see what she did? We have to call in the Ministry to…"

"I saw it with my own eyes quite clearly, thank you, Mister Malfoy," Hooch said in a clipped voice, staring at Wendy up and down in confusion. "And I will make my own judgement on how to proceed if you don't mind. So, little one… you want to come up to the school to see Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes please," Wendy nodded enthusiastically.

"Well I'm sure you can understand my reservations against allowing you into a place filled with students based on what you've managed to do to the Quidditch stadium."

Wendy flushed and looked down at her sandals. "I'm sorry…"

Hooch's piercing expression softened a little, offering the young girl a more comforting smile. "You are something new," she observed. "I've never seen anything like what you just did before."

"I've been hearing that quite a bit recently," Wendy replied with an embarrassed giggle.

Hooch paused, considering for a moment before she lifted her wand. Wendy blanched, thinking she was about to be attacked again, but Hooch pointed her wand up into the air and a bright silvery light burst out of the tip, swirling in the air before taking on the shape of a glowing hawk that shot off towards the castle.

"There," Hooch replied. "I've just sent a message to the Headmaster. Now he will come out here to meet you instead. I'll let him decide whether you can come up to the school or not."

Wendy beamed. "Thank you, Miss. Thank you so much."

"But Madam…!" Malfoy protested.

"Don't you see what she did to us!?" Montague agreed.

"This is my pitch, boys!" Hooch rapped sharply. "And as long as you are students of this school you will abide by the decisions of the staff members. And I don't want anyone to leave this pitch until the Headmaster arrives and gives you permission to go! Let's see what he thinks about all this!"

The amassed Slytherins grumbled and glared angrily but none of them wanted to cross Hooch lest she deny them access to the pitch for practice as punishment, which she could and would do.

Wendy, meanwhile, moved over to stand next to Luna again.

"That was quite a performance," Luna appraised her.

"It was nothing special really," Wendy rubbed the back of her head. "You should see what some of my friends are capable of doing it. Natsu-san would probably have levelled the stadium."

"Well then, thank goodness it was you that came here first instead of him," Luna replied simply.

* * *

It took less than five minutes before the awkward silence over the arena was broken by the arrival of a tall, elderly man that strode with confidence despite his age, out onto the pitch. Instantly all the Slytherins seemed to tense and you could practically see them trying to work out the details of their story in their own minds, while Wendy broke off listening to Luna talk about something called a Blibbering Humdinger to watch.

"Rolanda," the man smiled as he addressed Madam Hooch. "You called for me?"

"Professor Dumbledore," Madam Hooch dipped her head respectfully. "You appear to have a visitor. One who stopped by the Quidditch pitch on her way up to the castle and appears to have caused quite the ruckus."

"So I see," Albus Dumbledore replied, looking up at the stands before his bright blue eyes came to rest on Wendy herself, peering at her from over the top of his half-moon spectacles. Wendy took a step backwards slightly under his gaze.

"Oh dear, I appear to have unnerved you," Dumbledore observed gently. "I do apologise."

"N… no, it's alright," replied Wendy, bowing again. "It's just that… you remind me of someone."

Two someones actually. The tall elderly man with the long beard and the flowing robes had reminded Wendy a great deal of Master Hades of Grimoire Heart, which had intimidated her slightly. But while this man bore some resemblance to Hades, he didn't feel like Hades at all. Hades had had an aura of darkness around him that had practically made the skin tingle, whereas this man almost seemed to have a kindly, benevolent aura about him, as if you knew you could trust him. And in that way, he reminded her of Master Makarov. Makarov didn't really have an aura but Wendy couldn't help but feel reassured, standing here in his presence.

"I see," Dumbledore replied, staring at Wendy for a couple of extra seconds, before he turned around and faced Montague instead. "There appears to be have been quite the kerfuffle here today. You are the captain of this team - would you care to explain?"

"Professor," Montague replied. "We were merely flying around in a typical Quidditch practice session, minding our own business and getting down our techniques so that we could have a shot at victory this year when suddenly it was like we were flying in a hurricane and we were all forced to land on the ground, where that girl assaulted us all with some strange wind magic."

Wendy was about to object loudly, before Luna put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from doing so. Dumbledore, on the other hand, merely stared at Montague for several seconds before asking, "And why would she do something like that, do you think?"

"How should I know?" Montague shrugged. "The attack came out of nowhere, Professor, isn't that right everyone?"

There was a round of nodding and a cry of assent from each of the Slytherin players, and Dumbledore slowly swung his head around to stare at them all for a considerable length of time until they were all fighting not to fidget uncomfortably beneath his gaze.

"I see," he eventually replied, before turning to Wendy. "And what do you have to say for yourself?"

"They're lying, Mister," Wendy replied. "I was just watching them play when they came down on their own and started picking on me and Luna, who was taking me to see you before we got sidetracked. They called her names, threatened me with their stick things and then pushed Luna over. I… lashed out a bit after that, I admit. But they started attacking me then so I had to fight back."

Dumbledore gave her the same stare that he'd given to everyone else as if he was analysing her and Wendy, unlike the Slytherins, stared rigidly back. She knew that she was telling the truth so she had nothing to hide and she had the feeling that Dumbledore somehow already knew that the others were not being truthful.

"And why were you coming to see me?" Dumbledore asked.

"To ask for your help in finding my friends. I'm lost, you see. We're… we're all a bit lost actually, but I got separated from the others and Murcus-san said that you could help me."

"San?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Oh… where I come from, we add 'san' to the end of someone's name when we want to show respect to them," Wendy replied.

"And where do you come from?"

"…A very, very long way away…" Wendy replied.

Dumbledore examined her shrewdly for several more moments before he nodded and gave her a smile, his eyes twinkling brightly behind his glasses. Then he drew his wand and raised into the air, calling out, "Obliviate!"

There was a flash that lit up the stadium, causing Wendy to shield her eyes, but when she looked again she could see no visible difference to anything. Although, the Slytherins were all looking rather blank for some reason.

"Remain calm, everyone," Dumbledore announced to them. "I would suggest that you all head back to your dormitories and get some rest. That freak wind seems to have taken it out of you all a bit but thankfully it seems none of you are seriously injured. Off you go. Chop, chop."

There were rounds of muttering as dazed Slytherins slowly walked off and away, back towards the school castle. Wendy frowned in confusion as she watched them go, none of them paying her the slightest bit of attention until eventually there was nobody there except for Wendy, Luna, Dumbledore and Hooch.

"Professor," Hooch stared in slight shock. "You just modified all of the memories?"

"Indeed," Dumbledore stowed his wand away. "It's very rare for me to Obliviate a student for any reason - doing so makes me feel as though I am abusing my power as Headmaster over them. But this time I feel it was necessary. I believe, Rolanda, that we have stumbled onto something rather… extraordinary. And I would rather not have word of it spreading until we know exactly what we are dealing with."

"Then why have you not Obliviated me, Professor?" Luna asked curiously.

"Because, Miss Lovegood, you were on the right side of this altercation," Dumbledore smiled. "I believe that I can trust you to keep this a secret, can I not?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Then I would ask you to return to your dormitory now as well. And not a word to anyone - for your new friends own protection."

"Will I be allowed to see her again?"

"I am not yet sure, but I will let you know," Dumbledore replied.

"Okay," Luna nodded. "Bye Wendy."

"Bye…" Wendy waved as she drifted away. "Thank you for everything!"

Once Luna was gone, Dumbledore turned to Hooch and said, "I would much appreciate it, Rolanda, if at least for now you too could keep this a secret. But, I would ask that you find Minerva, Severus, Filius and Pomana and tell them that I wish to see them in my office in two hours time, as well as yourself. Hopefully I shall know more about this by then."

"Very well, Professor," Hooch nodded.

"But if you could try your utmost to keep Dolores Umbridge from finding out, that would be very much appreciated too."

Hooch wrinkled her nose in distate at that name and gave a resolute nod. "Of course."

"I thank you," Dumbledore turned back to the girl who was quietly waiting to be addressed again. "Now, then, Wendy was it not? Would you like to accompany me to my office? You can tell me everything that you need to from there."

"Um… okay…" Wendy nodded, unsure what was really happening but going along for the ride.

And then suddenly there was a flash of fire right over Dumbledore's head that made Wendy scream in surprise and almost fall over, but she stared in amazement as a large bird with crimson feathers swooshed out of the fire and soared up and over their heads, crooning several long and beautiful musical notes from its beak before coming to rest on Dumbledore's shoulder.

"Then if you would kindly like to take hold of one of Fawkes' tail-feathers," Dumbledore replied, taking a gentle grip on one of the long, gloriously golden feathers that trailed down behind the majestic bird so far they almost reached the ground. Wendy hesitated, but she still felt reassured in Dumbledore's company so she moved slowly forwards and laid her hand gently on one of the feathers. It was warm to the touch and she seemed to feel that warmth spreading through her entire body as the bird cocked its head to give her a quizzical look. Its eyes gleamed and Wendy knew that these was an intelligent creature just by looking at it.

But suddenly she was surrounded by fire that whipped up from seemingly nowhere and engulfed both her and Dumbledore. Wendy looked around sharply but she felt no different than before - the fire was not burning at her. And a couple of seconds later the fire vanished and all three of them were standing in a large, circular room with the walls covered in portraits and bookshelves. There were tables everywhere covered in strange objects Wendy couldn't even begin to guess at, many of which were made of silver and some of which were giving off wisps of smoke.

"Wow…" Wendy murmured as she let go of Fawkes and looked around. "That was amazing. Was that some kind of teleportation magic?"

"Phoenixes have many incredible abilities," Dumbledore merely chuckled as Fawkes hopped onto a nearby perch.

"I've never seen a phoenix before," murmured Wendy in awe, reaching out tentatively to touch Fawkes feathers, which the bird seemed to like as it trilled happily and rubbed the back of its head against Wendy's hand. "I've heard of them back home but… I'd always heard they were huge, destructive creatures. Nothing like this."

"Indeed? Well, I have never heard of a phoenix being described as such myself," Dumbledore raised silver-haired brow. "But something tells me, child, that you are more than just lost. And that what would seem commonplace to many of the magic-users around here, would seem almost totally alien to you."

Wendy looked up at him with big eyes. "How do you know that?" she asked.

"I must apologise to you," Dumbledore replied simply as he strode over to his desk and sat in his chair, interlocking his fingers. "You may consider what I did out on the Quidditch pitch as an invasion of privacy, but I used a technique known as Legilimency on you and on the boys. I do not usually do that sort of thing without permission either, but I take the safety of my students extremely seriously and I had to make sure you were not a threat."

"What's Legilimency?" Wendy asked.

"It's a magical ability for navigating through the mind of another person," Dumbledore replied. "If you are well-versed in it, as I am, you can use it to ascertain whether someone is telling the truth to you or not, as I did out on the pitch. Ordinarily I am afraid those boys would have had to have been punished for their actions out there, and especially for lying to me, but under the circumstances I thought it would be best forgotten. However, Legilimency can also be used to rummage through a person's thoughts, their emotions and their memories. I was not attempting to do this with you, but when I had a look I could sense that you are quite unlike anything that I have ever encountered before. But I could tell you were not a threat and that you were telling the truth. Other than that, I know nothing about you. I was just making educated guesses."

"Oh… okay," Wendy nodded.

"You are not upset? Some people would be," Dumbledore remarked.

"No, I'm okay with it," Wendy smiled simply. "I understand you were just doing what you thought was best and you didn't go too far. I think Master Makarov would have done something similar if he could do that. He takes our safety very seriously too."

"Indeed?" Dumbledore replied. "Well he sounds like my kind of man."

"Oh yeah… I shouldn't be talking like you would know what I'm saying," Wendy giggled sheepishly.

"Then perhaps you can enlighten me," Dumbledore replied.

"Well… it's… a very long story," Wendy murmured. "And I don't know… if you'll believe it or not."

"I will believe it, if it is true," Dumbledore replied. "But perhaps, if it truly is so complicated, we can save time. This time I shall ask for permission to use Legilimency on you and look into your mind. It will most likely be much faster than telling your story via word of mouth."

"Oh…" Wendy hesitated. "You… want to look through my memories?"

"If that is alright with you."

"Well… I suppose you would believe me more if you did that but… um… what if there's something I…" she poked her fingers together embarrassedly, thinking about various times things nobody would be comfortable with another person seeing such as being in the bath.

"It would be quite simple to prevent me from seeing anything you did not wish me to. All you have to do is picture a wall in your mind surrounding all the memories you don't wish for me to see. If I come up against that wall in my search I will respect it and not try to delve any further in."

"…Um… okay, I guess I can do that," Wendy nodded, squaring her shoulders slightly. "Alright. Let's do it."

"Splendid," Dumbledore smiled. "Have you got the wall pictured?"

"Mmm-hmm," Wendy nodded, closing her eyes to try and concentrate on the mental wall.

"Then I shall begin," Dumbledore replied leaning forward to focus his eyes on Wendy like they were lasers and murmuring aloud this time, "Focus on all the things you want me to know, if you can. Legilimens."

Instantly both Wendy and Dumbledore found themselves practically immersed in constantly shifting images as if they were standing on the sidelines and watching what was going on. There was Wendy as a tiny little girl staring up at the colossal white form of Grandine the Sky Dragon, a sight which made present Wendy's heart ache slightly.

"But why would you want me to learn Dragon Slayer magic?" Little Wendy asked. "I don't want to fight any Dragons."

"Dragon Slayers are not called that because they slay Dragons although they did indeed do so in ancient times," Grandine's kindly voice seemed to roll over them. "They merely know how to use the same magic as Dragons, and Dragon magic is the most effective against another Dragon. And I would like to see you learn how to use the same magic as me."

The scene suddenly shifted, and Wendy was wondering through the woods, crying her eyes out. "Grandine!" she wailed. "Where are you, Grandine!"

Present Wendy felt her heard pang again, realising this must be right after Grandine had suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason, on the same day as Igneel and Metalicana. She watched her younger self staring up at the sky hoping for Grandine to appear there, only for nothing to come… until suddenly the bushes rustled and a young boy with blue hair, a strange tattoo over the right side of his face and a backpack with a staff emerged in front of her.

It was the young Mystogan - the Edolas version of Jellal before he went by the name of Mystogan.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"She's gone!" Wendy sniffed.

"What?"

"She disappeared!" Wendy wailed before running to Mystogan and grabbing him in a hug, wailing into his shirt as he tentatively held her, not quite sure what to do with her. But then the scene shifted again to see the two of them standing together in the rain.

"No! I wanna come with you!" Little Wendy protested.

"You can't! It'll be dangerous if you come."

"But why? I don't want to leave you, Jellal!"

"If you head past this forest, there's a guild. They'll take care of you there."

"No!"

And this was how it went, as it cycled through scene after scene rapidly, so much so that Wendy felt like she was on some kind of rollercoaster that depicted her life. She watched Roubaul telling her she was now in a guild, watched Charla being born from the egg she found, watched as she heard that an alliance had been made between four guilds to help defeat Oracion Seis and learned that fellow Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel, would be part of the company and therefore immediately volunteered so she could meet him.

She watched as she resurrected Jellal, thinking he was the same one she knew, and the battle to stop Nirvana during which she launched her first ever offensive Dragon Slayer attack. She watched as Roubaul revealed how he had created the guild just for her before passing on and how in her grief, Erza invited her to join Fairy Tail. She watched meeting Mira and Gajeel and the others for the first time. She watched learning the truth about Mystogan and the fight against the Kingdom of Edolas to save the Exceed and the rest of her guild. She watched herself being partnered with Mest for the S-Class exam, learning about Zeref, the battles against Azuma, Zancrow, Bluenote and eventually Hades.

Then came the crucial part where she watched once again as Acnologia attacked the island, and how the Master tried to hold him off before his guild attacked the Dragon anyway, only to be powerless against him despite having four Dragon Slayers with them at the time. She watched as they joined hands and how everything went black just as Acnologia fired upon them.

She watched as she woke up to find only the three Exceed with her and how she met Mavis, who explained what had happened and how they had landed in an alternate universe. She watched as they set out and encountered the wild dragons, only to be separated from the group during this attack. She watched meeting the merpeople and how they had carried her upriver to meet Dumbledore himself.

The visions stopped right up until the point where she met Luna at the boathouse and suddenly Wendy was back in her own body. She opened her eyes to see Dumbledore staring at her, knowing that he had seen every single thing that she herself had just seen.

She got the impression that disbelief was not an expression that appeared on his face very often. But it was there now, for sure.

"Well now…" Dumbledore said eventually. "What in the world am I going to do with you now?"


	5. Iron in the Sky

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 5:- Iron in the Sky**

* * *

"Am I in trouble?" Wendy asked, a little nervously.

"Not at all, my dear child," Dumbledore shook his head. "Not at the moment at least. But, I am rather concerned about this. From what I gleaned from your mind, your comrades are not exactly the most… indoor-friendly bunch, are they?"

"That's putting it mildly," Wendy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "But… they really are all good people."

"Of that I have no doubt. But I'm sorry to say that if they pop up at random times around this Wizarding World as your Master Mavis believes they will, without any clue as to where they are or how they got there, I fear of what might happen. Not just to our world but to them. Destroying the house of someone important would be a very good way of getting on the bad side of the Ministry of Magic."

"Ministry of Magic? What's that?"

Dumbledore drummed his fingers, searching for the right words to describe this situation before saying, "I suppose you could say it is our version of the Magic Council in your world. Though perhaps a little more complex. We used to have a Wizard's Council of our own before the Ministry was created. But essentially the role of the Ministry is to preserve magical law throughout the country, to make sure everyone follows the rules and ensure that our existence remains secret to the Muggle populace."

"Remain secret?" Wendy blinked, once she remembered what the word Muggle actually meant. "You mean… non-magic people don't know about magic people in this world?"

"Indeed not. Back in olden times, when Muggles and sorcerers did live together without secrecy, there were many phases of history where they did live side by side peacefully - the most prominent example being the time of King Arthur and the most powerful wizard that ever lived - Merlin. But there have been just as many times where the Muggles lived in fear of magic, for magic users generally held far more individual power than any one of them did and there were many that used their magic for selfish and destructive purposes. Magic can be a dangerous weapon in the hands of the wrong people and unfortunately you get the wrong people everywhere, in both the magic and non-magic circles. There was a lot of death on both sides whenever these conflicts arose so the Statute of Secrecy was put in place to keep that kind of bloodshed from happening again."

There was a beat of silence before Wendy frowned and said, "But that's such a horrible division in the world," she murmured. "That's so sad."

"I take it that's not the way things are run in your world," Dumbledore noted.

"Didn't you see it in my mind?"

"I looked at your memories certainly but I didn't learn everything. The mind isn't just a book that I can read - I saw mostly the things you were thinking that I should see. I explored no further than that."

"Well, in our world… we're governed by the Magic Council sure but the Mugg… I mean, the ordinary people send special requests to mage guilds like Fairy Tail, asking for the help of a mage to do a certain temporary job like help get rid of a monster or translate some ancient language or something like that and then we at the guild pick and choose which job we'd like based on the reward size and whether we think we can carry it out and then we go do the job, take the money, go home and then look for the next one. It's a system that's worked really well for I think around two-hundred years now. We make our living helping the non-magical people whenever they ask for it."

Dumbledore stared at her critically for several moments before a slow smile spread across his face. "You know, that does sound rather ideal. It's unfortunate that our own world did not work out in the same way as yours did."

"We're definitely happy with it," Wendy smiled.

"Unfortunately I fear that our own world may have already separated the Muggle and Wizard communities too far for that kind of reality to ever really join them back together again to such a degree. But we digress really. The point I was attempting to make is that I fear what may happen when certain people learn of the existence of you and your friends in this world. Even magical people in this world might find your branch of magic… rather dangerous."

Wendy opened her mouth to protest some more about how her friends were not dangerous unless you were an enemy, but she stopped and closed her lips again. She could remember all to well how the Magic Council of her own world was always angry at Fairy Tail because of its members destructive tendencies and how they'd even sent one of their agents, Doranbolt, onto their sacred island in an attempt to find secrets to force them to disband. If the Magic Council from a world that accepted magic like theirs was trying to get rid of Fairy Tail, what hope did they have of getting friendly with a similar version from another world?

"What's going to happen to me now?" the Sky Dragon Slayer asked tentatively.

"I am… not sure," Dumbledore replied. "Ordinarily I would invite you to stay in the castle, give you as much chance to recuperate as you like within the safety of our walls. But there is… a certain woman… dwelling on our campus this year that I would quite like to keep you from meeting."

It was probably a wise precaution. God forbid what might happen if Dolores Umbridge got her hands on Wendy.

"But you'll help me search for my friends, right?" Wendy asked. "Murcus-san said that you would be able to."

"I will certainly do my best to ascertain the whereabouts of your companions but I am, unfortunately rather a busy man. Nevertheless, I will do what I can, and in the meantime I need to think of a place for you to stay, where you will be safe… I have… one idea. A place not too far away where it will be easy for me to contact you if I hear any word of your friends."

"Does that mean that I can't take part in searching for them?" Wendy frowned. "I… feel like I should be out there, doing something… you know what I mean?"

Dumbledore drummed his fingers on the tabletop. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was facing a situation where he had little to no idea what he was supposed to do about it. This was, after all, unprecedented.

"Well… you are of course free to do as you wish, Wendy," he replied. "You're not one of my students after all so you don't have to do a thing that I say. But if I may be so bold, I think you need rest for now. You have obviously had quite the taxing experience since arriving in this universe."

Wendy blinked and then realised pretty much on the spot how tired she really was. Apart from her spell of unconsciousness before waking up in the cave she'd had pretty much no chance to just relax and get a good sleep.

"I… I suppose you're right," she murmured. "But… I'm just so worried about them."

"I understand that, but you won't be of much use to them when you are exhausted. I honestly do not know what to do next about all this and I think I'll need to talk to some of my staff before I come up with a plan of action but for now, your safety is among my highest priorities. And I know somewhere where you should, hopefully, be just that while you recuperate."

"O…okay."

"Then you'll come?"

"Yes, yes I will."

"Excellent. Armando," he turned to speak to one of the moving portraits lining the walls. "Please inform anyone who comes to visit whilst I am out that I will be back shortly."

"Right you are, Professor," the elderly looking portrait replied, startling Wendy briefly but before she could comment, Fawkes suddenly trilled and turned around on his perch, fanning his tail feathers and spreading them like like those of a peacock. Dumbledore laid his hand gently on one of them and nodded to Wendy to do the same. And the moment Wendy did, there was a flash of fire and once again they were gone.

* * *

Once they emerged again it was in the middle of a narrow street with cobblestones underfoot and low walls on either side, except for a single dark and dingy-looking building that they were now standing in front of. Wendy blinked and looked around, noticing that there were more buildings not far away, crammed together on either side of what looked like a bustling street filled with people wearing robes and pointy hats, but for some reason this building was slightly separate from all the others and very few people seemed interested in coming towards it.

She turned to look at the building and saw, as Dumbledore stepped over onto the threshold and pushed the front door open, words scrawled over a sign above the doorway that read:-

The Hog's Head.

"Is this a bar?" Wendy asked, slightly nervously. "Are… are you sure I can go in there?"

"Not entirely," Dumbledore admitted. "But… I believe… this place may be ideal for you to recuperate in. Come, come. Let's go and have a word with the barkeeper."

Wendy slowly followed Dumbledore inside and bit her lip when she saw the interior of the place. Rarely had she seen anywhere that looked more grungy and filthy than this. The only place that could really compete was the ancient city of Nirvana and that had been abandoned for hundreds of years. But this place had windows she could barely see out of, a floor that looked like moles could pop out of it at any second, tables that looked like they were going to fall apart if you so much as touched them and a very ugly looking boar's head mounted on the wall nearby. That last one especially caused Wendy to shiver and she stuck close to Dumbledore as he strode across the room.

There were only two people in the bar, one of them being the barkeeper. And that barkeeper, who had long straggly silver hair, a big beard and robes that looked like they were made of a sack, had seemingly been frozen in the middle of washing out a filthy looking mug, his blue eyes narrowed as he glared reproachfully at the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"What are you doing here?" he muttered sourly.

"A pleasure to see you too, Aberforth," Dumbledore nodded to him. "I apologise for not giving you advance notice of my arrival, but it was a rather snap decision on my part."

"Is that right?" the barkeeper muttered, putting the mug down with a decisive thud. "Well then, say what you have to say and be done with it." And it was at this point that his eyes settled on Wendy and he froze again.

"Um… hi…" Wendy waved uncertainly.

Aberforth didn't reply. He just stared at her for several seconds before his gaze switched back to Dumbledore. "What's going on here, Albus?"

"Perhaps we can continue with this conversation somewhere a bit more private," Dumbledore suggested.

"No problem. You, out!" he barked at the other person sitting in the corner, who had his face partially hidden in his cloak.

"What? But… I'm not done here…"

"I said out! I've decided to close up early today. Move along."

"But…"

"Don't make me pull out my wand."

The wizard snorted in irritation but pushed himself to his feet and trundled out of the bar and into the street one again, slamming it behind him and leaving the pub devoid of customers.

"There. We're in private. Now, care you explain what's happening?"

"I have come to ask a favour of you," Dumbledore replied calmly, not at all put off by the short-tempered behaviour of the barkeeper. "A favour that had nothing to do with the Order. This is Wendy Marvell - a young girl with a rather… unique set of circumstances. In fact, I am sure that if I explained it all to you, you would be quite convinced that I had gone mad."

"I've had my suspicions you have for a while," Aberforth folded his arms. "Go on then, surprise me."

It took quite a while for Dumbledore to convince the barkeeper of the truth, and Wendy had to put in a word of two of her own to help along the way. Aberforth seemed to be quite sure that Albus had hit his head on something to come into his bar and start prattling nonsense like that, but Wendy was able to finally convince him of the truth behind it all by demonstrating some of her magic to him. Apparently Aberforth liked to keep goats and one of them had fallen sick with something that Aberforth had been trying unsuccessfully to cure, and after he took them into the back and Wendy spent ten seconds with the animal it was running around the room bleating its little heart out.

"Alright," Aberforth murmured. "So I believe it. What does any of this have to do exactly?"

"I was wondering if you would consider watching over her for me for a while. Until such a time as I can find the best way to help her."

Aberforth had an unreadable expression for a moment before he suddenly growled, "So… you want me… to take care of a little girl while you go swanning off playing the glorious hero, is that what you're saying? Huh… you know… that sounds remarkably familiar doesn't it, Albus? Where have I heard that before?"

His gaze switched towards the portrait of a young blond haired girl that was watching them silently from the wall, her painted eyes flicking between Albus and Aberforth with concern written all over her features. Wendy frowned when she saw it, wondering who this girl might be, but Albus' face tightened slightly.

"Aberforth, please…"

"What's the problem with looking after her yourself, may I ask? Is it too much for you? Is she going to get in the way of all of your grand plans?"

"Aberforth…"

"I suppose you doing this is 'for the greater good' in some way, is it?"

"ABERFORTH!" Albus' voice raised slightly and for a fleeting moment Wendy thought she could see a heartrending pain fill his formerly twinkling blue eyes but it was gone in a moment and he sighed. "This… is not like that."

"You can't deny it sounds similar," Aberforth grunted.

"It does, I admit, but if I felt that I could adequately protect her myself then I would do so without a second thought. But you know that these are times where I must tread lightly. With the Ministry imposing itself upon my school, what do you think they would do if learned of Wendy's existence and what she can do. Wizardkind… no… humanity itself, does not exactly have a good history with how they handle things that they do not understand."

"So, you intend to go behind the Ministry's back? And what should happen if they find out you've been hiding some girl from another dimension from them?"

"That is a question with an answer I would rather not speculate on."

"I'd say arrest is certain. And you know the same sentence would be upon me if they found out that I helped you, do you not?"

"I am aware that I am… asking much…" Albus pursed his lips. "But please, Aberforth. She needs our help."

Aberforth frowned and turned to fix his gaze on Wendy. The Sky Dragon Slayer smiled hopefully at him, placing her hands together and interlocking her fingers as she tried not to look away from his eyes, which she noticed were strikingly similar to Albus'. Aberforth only broke his gaze to look back at the portrait of the girl again and as Wendy turned to look as well, she saw the girl give him a reassuring nod, but still said nothing.

"Alright," Aberforth sighed. "Alright, she can stay with me."

"Thank you, Aberforth."

"I'm not doing it for you, Albus. I'm doing it for her."

"I understand completely. Believe me, I do. But if she ends up staying for a while then I will be making regular check-ups on her progress." The Headmaster then turned to Wendy and said, "Aberforth may be a little rough around the edges but he is a good fellow and he will look after you properly. I must get back to the school now, but I will begin trying to find your friends immediately."

"Will I have to stay here very long?" Wendy asked.

"Like I said, I do not govern your decisions. All I would ask is that you stay here for at least one night. Whether you stay longer will depend on what course of action we take, I suppose."

"Okay… please do your best. I'm just… so worried."

"As to be expected. But for now I bid you farewell. I will come back tomorrow with my decision." And he strode out of the door, leaving Wendy and Aberforth behind. They listened to his retreating footsteps together until he had left the pub and then there was a brief crackling of fire and nothing. Albus was gone.

"Um…" Wendy slowly bowed her head to her new caretaker. "I hope that I'm not an imposition on you, Aberforth-san."

"I won't lie and say this is a bit inconvenient. I haven't had anyone actually stay here in goodness knows how long," muttered the barkeeper with a shake of his head. "But I've got food and drink aplenty so, I guess you should just help yourself. I'll make up some kind of bed for you as soon as I figure out where its going to be."

"Thank you, sir," Wendy smiled. "I can be of help around the place - clean and things like that."

"I don't think that will really be…"

"No, I want to do it. I want to be useful while I'm here instead of just a burden. Please, tell me what to do and I'll do it?"

Aberforth stared at her before he chuckled gruffly and said, "You ever milked a goat before?"

"Um… no. But I can try, I think."

"Eh, we'll save that one for later maybe. For now, if you really want to help… I guess I could use some help with the washing up."

"No problem," Wendy grinned and immediately went to the sink to fill it up with water. Aberforth watched her go briefly before he turned to the portrait of the girl, who was now smiling.

"Girl's been here five minutes and already she's reminding me of you, Ariana."

The portrait merely kept smiling and Aberforth eventually sighed and left to find a decent place for Wendy to sleep, conjuring pillows out of thin air with his wand as he did so.

* * *

"From another dimension? Are you absolutely sure of it, Albus?"

Dumbledore looked up at his Deputy Headmistress, taking in her pale face and wide eyes, the expression of unmasked shock quite alien on Minerva McGonagall's features. It took an awful lot to leave her looking so stunned, but then again Albus himself was sure he was wearing a similar face when he'd finished viewing Wendy's memories.

"Absolutely," he nodded. "She was not lying. Such an extraordinary story as that can only be one of two things - a ridiculous, bald-faced lie or the truth. And this was the latter. I saw her memories of her world and while there were some things it had in common with our own, in most aspects they were vastly different."

"But, this is incredible, isn't it?" Pomona Sprout breathed as she sat on the edge of one of the tables and shook her head, hardly daring herself to believe it but only doing so because it was Dumbledore talking. "Surely it must be unprecedented."

"Certainly it is since records of our history began," Dumbledore agreed. "If something like this had happened before I feel that it would have been a subject of great interest to me when I took History of Magic at this school."

"But what are we supposed to do with her now?" McGonagall asked. "Keep her hidden away at your brother's incongruous bar forever?"

"That would be little different to keeping her captive," Filius Flitwick squeaked in agreement.

"Even if we wanted to take that course of action, I believe that we would struggle to keep her contained. Especially based on the damage she inflicted to the Quidditch pitch. But no, she is a girl, lost and confused but really no different from some of our own students except for the type of magic that she uses. Poppy would be ludicrously jealous of her healing abilities from what I've seen. But the truth is, I do not know what sort of action we should take beyond simply doing our best to find her friends."

"Should we not inform the Ministry about them?" Flitwick asked. "You're already heavily loathed by the Minister at this stage as it is, Headmaster. If he finds out you've been keeping this from him…"

"I am aware of what would happen, but I must also think of the welfare of Wendy and her companions."

"Why?" the slow drawl of Severus Snape filled the room as the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin house stood in the corner. "Not to put too fine a point on it, Headmaster, but why should we make these people our concern? They are not from our universe and therefore have no place in it."

"What would you have me do, Severus? Just ignore their plight?"

"I am just wondering whether we should keep our efforts focused on the problems of our own universe before we attempt to deal with ones coming from another. Problems such as the impending rise of the Dark Lord once again."

"And therein lies one of my chiefest concerns," Dumbledore drew himself up. "The Ministry's reaction to the presence of these offworlders is but a trivial one. I am far more concerned with what exactly Lord Voldemort will try and do when he finds out they exist. From what I saw in Wendy's mind, her friends all have incredible talents and most of them have not only extremely powerful but also extremely destructive magic at their disposal."

"You think that You-Know-Who will try to kill them?" Sprout bit her lip.

"If he sees them as a threat then he may do. But there is something else he may try - recruiting them. Voldemort is a master of deception at the best of times but these people are confused, lost in a world that they don't understand, that they do not know. I fear how easy it might be to convince some of them to his cause by convincing them that magic users such as them would be slaughtered by Muggles if they were given half a chance. He could take truths such as how Muggles forced wizards into hiding, and twist them to suit his own needs. And that's not even factoring magical control like the Imperius Curse. And the kind of powers I saw in Wendy's mind being used against us, used against Muggles… it is truly a terrifying thought."

"Are they really that powerful?" Flitwick breathed in shock.

"Wendy was strong enough to rip several of the pitch stands apart with a tornado she expelled from her mouth. And from what I saw, she is actually rather far down the list of her friends in terms of power. If her two fellow Dragon Slayers that I saw in her head, Natsu and Gajeel, felt so inclined, I believe they could level Hogsmeade within a couple of minutes flat, and even they are outclassed by some of the others."

There was a long and excruciatingly heavy silence as each of the four Heads of Houses digested this news in stunned silence.

"Then that would explain your primary reluctance to inform the Ministry, I suppose," McGonagall was the first to speak. "If they became aware of what was going on, it would probably be only a matter of minutes before one of He Who Must Not Be Named's spies got word to him about it all."

"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded. All of them were well aware of the fact that Voldemort had a good many spies inside the official circles. It had been another reason why Dumbledore had Obliviated the likes of Draco Malfoy. If he had allowed the memory to remain, how long would it have been before his father Lucius heard about this?

"I assume you don't want me informing him of this myself," Snape muttered.

"If you would be so kind," Dumbledore agreed. "In all honesty though, this situation is mostly outside our control. With the whereabouts of most of the group unknown, it seems to me like the only thing we can do for the most part is keep our ears to the ground and investigate anything that sounds like it could be some of Wendy's companions. But I believe, despite our best efforts, it will most likely not be long before the Ministry and Voldemort learn of these people. Our best hope… is that we can beat them both to finding them. For both their sake… and our own."

"So you'll want to talk to the rest of the Order about this?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded. "We should organise an emergency meeting. Tomorrow night at the latest. Our purpose is to fight Voldemort and if we can act quickly enough… we may gain allies that will make him seriously consider just staying in hiding forever."

* * *

"So… is there a story between you and Dumbledore, Mister?" Wendy asked as she scraped congealed something-or-other off a plate and dunked it back in the sink for a proper rinsing, the small girl having to stand on a chair to get a good reach. "He seems like such a nice man and you didn't look very happy to see him."

Aberforth grunted lightly. "Let's just say it's been many, many decades since my brother and I have really gotten along."

"Your brother?" Wendy looked over her shoulder. "You're related?" She was not entirely surprised by this news - she had guessed that it might be something like that since there was quite a bit of family resemblance between them, particularly in the eyes and the beards.

"Indeed we are, though that's not something that I am particularly proud of. People used to believe that my brother was the greatest wizard in the world. Heck, a lot of people still do. But we don't get along. Oh, he still makes sure to keep in touch with me and I usually help him if he asks me to, but you could definitely say that we're not on friendly terms."

Wendy was desperately wanting to ask why, but she refrained from commenting any further. Clearly something had happened to upset the bond between the two of them and she knew it really was not her place to pry.

"You're doing a pretty good job there," Aberforth noted. "My plates haven't looked so clean in years."

"It's my pleasure. We all try and help each other out back home whenever we can. Even in just the smallest ways."

"That's admirable, I guess. Just remember though, kid. If you're still staying here by tomorrow then don't come into the main bar area. Stay here in the back. Get quite a lot of shady characters coming into this place, and while I can handle the place just fine, you should keep yourself out place."

"Don't worry about me, Aberforth-san. I can take care of myself."

"…I'm sure you can, kid. I'm sure you can."

"So, can you tell me some more things about this world? Your brother didn't really get a chance to tell me a whole lot. Oooh, can you start with this Quidditch thing? I'd really like to know more about that - that looked really cool."

"Insatiable curiosity," Aberforth murmured. "She really is like you… Ariana."

* * *

"What an appropriate name," Gajeel murmured to himself as he sat on top of a rocky precipice, staring out across the grassy landscape. It was dotted with several large, cone-shaped hills with flat tops and he was currently perched on the top of the highest one, chewing through a piece of metal he'd taken from the wreckage of the car back in Portree.

But on the way up here, he'd seen a signpost for this particular area that called it, 'The Fairy Glen.'

"To bad it really doesn't help me find out where the bloody hell I'm supposed to go," he muttered to himself. "Jeez, this really is messed up. Beyond words. The heck am I supposed to do now anyway? Wander aimlessly around until I come across some place that actually understands half the questions I ask?"

He tossed a piece of metal that had more than a little rust over his shoulder and picked up another piece to chow down on. How much more ridiculous could this situation get anyway? Surely there was soon going to have to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Not to mention he should probably get something decent to wear - he was still bare-chested after he'd taken the bandages off, and now he looked like that damn ice stripper Gray just sitting here like this.

But even as he sat there, brooding on his next move, he became aware of something. There was a very faint smell tickling at the edges of his nostrils.

His back immediately snapped straight as he shot to his feet, twisting his head around to sniff the air in earnest, using his incredible Dragon Slayer senses to pinpoint exactly which direction the smell was coming from. It quickly became clear it was not the smell of something particularly close by but it was being blown in on the wind. A wind which was coming up from the south.

And it was a rather familiar smell too.

"Now… we're talking," Gajeel grinned, seizing the remainder of his iron scraps in one hand as he leapt off the edge of the precipice, landing hard enough to splinter the rock beneath his feet and sprinting off across the glen, nose twitching as he followed the scent. At last… something was going right.

* * *

"Some kind of giant cat with a sword?" Charlie Weasley frowned as he inspected the long gash in the neck of the unconscious Hebridean Black dragon lying prone next to him. "Are you absolutely serious?"

"It was like nothing I'd ever seen before," insisted one of the wizards of the MacFusty clan behind him. "Honest to goodness it was like a big, muscly panther that was standing upright like a human being and it had a sword that was practically as big as it was."

"And it spoke?" Charlie pressed.

"Definitely."

"What exactly did it say?"

"…I can't really remember - I was a bit freaked out by the fact it was standing right behind me…"

Charlie sighed. "Well, I've never heard of anything like that before but this wound does definitely look like it was made by some kind of sword. But no regular sword can pierce dragon hide unless its got one hell of a powerful swing behind it."

"But what about the blunt traumas?" another man asked. "What caused those?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Charlie shook his head as he stepped around to the dragon's side to run his hand over the bent, cracked scales that indicated something had smashed into the dragon's side with incredible brute force, creating a circular crater of damage across its flank. "But somehow I doubt that something the size of a human had anything to do with this one, even if it was a muscly cat. I'd like to say that the dragons did this to each other but I've never seen a wound like this on them either. I've seen tail smashes that have done damage but they've always been in a long line rather than in a circular pattern like this. It's like it was hit by a giant cannonball or something."

"Do you think they'll be alright though?"

"Oh yeah, they'll be fine," Charlie waved a hand. "We all know here that Hebridean Blacks are tough creatures even if they aren't the toughest dragons. You should keep an eye on them though, to make sure that they don't start fighting again and potentially making these injuries worse. And you should probably periodically check infection and make sure that scale rot doesn't set in, but they'll be more than fine within a week or two, I'm sure."

"Good to know," the man in charge sighed in relief. "Sorry about this, Mister Weasley. I do feel like we might have called you out here for nothing."

"Oh, not nothing - I got to see my family again. And I can never pass up the chance to help a dragon in trouble. I'll keep an eye out for any more dragons bearing injuries like these back home and if I find out what caused it, I'll get back to you."

"Good to know but… um… unfortunately, there is one more thing…" coughed the man in charge slightly. "There's, uh… some reporters for the Daily Prophet who got wind of the attack and are waiting for someone to talk to them. Don't suppose you'd consider… um…"

Charlie groaned. "Ugh, I hate the press, I really do. Fine, fine, let's just get this over with."

"Still," he heard one of the assembled wizards murmur, "I wonder where that cat thing is now."

* * *

Pantherlily grunted as he did the equivalent of a stumble in mid-air. The burns on his back were still searing at him and he was pretty sure a couple of blisters had developed beneath his fur. He knew if Wendy was there, he would most likely be completely pain free right about now but sadly they were still looking for the young Dragon Slayer and didn't appear to be any closer to actually finding her than when they started.

Still, that dragon's fire had been seriously hot! Lily had been caught in the middle of a fiery blast from Grimoire Heart's mage Azuma and come out much weakened and damaged but not with anything long-lasting. But Lily was tough, tougher than any other Exceed in existence, and he was not about to let these injuries get to him even if they did hurt. Heck, he'd been shot straight through the torso by Erza Knightwalker and still been able to get back onto his feet shortly afterwards, even if he hadn't been able to do much else for a while longer.

However, Happy and Charla had both heard his grunt and turned back to look at him, before glancing at each other. They'd found land again a short while ago and now they were flying along the coastline searching for any sign of where a human might have managed to get up out of the water, or maybe find a town of some kind where they could enlist help but at the moment there seemed to be very little but cliffs and large bays.

"Maybe we should take a little break," Happy suggested tentatively.

"No!" Lily shook his head stubbornly, flapping his wings until he caught up with the other two and was flying level with them. "We're not stopping just because of a little stinging! We need to find Wendy."

"A little stinging? I'd say its a bit more painful than that."

"I will deal with it. I've dealt with everything any universe has thrown at me so far and I'll deal with this now. Besides, if we find Wendy then I'm as good as fixed right away, aren't I?"

"He does have a point," Charla agreed. "And I would… rather not stop unless we absolutely had to."

"Okay, if you're both sure," Happy nodded slowly, before his stomach rumbled loudly and he grinned sheepishly. "But I could really stop for a fish snack right about now."

"I could really go for a kiwi," Lily agreed.

"You and your stomachs," Charla muttered, before suddenly her own tummy rumbled and she bit her lip. "You didn't hear that. Come on, let's find Wendy."

* * *

What the three Exceed were unaware of was the man pounding across the grasslands about a mile away. Gajeel growled as he pounded his way through a boulder rather than take the time to hop over the top or go around it, his feet smashing into the ground like giant iron pistons to push himself across the turf.

"I knew it," he muttered to himself with a savage grin. "I know that smell. I'm hardly going to forget the smell of my own cat! And that's the Salamander's and the little girl's cats too, no question about it."

Dodging boulders and leaping down hills, transforming his hands into iron spikes to help him scramble up over a sheer rock face that stood in his path and sprinting off once he reached the top, his nose was held high and twitching while his hair flayed out from side to side like a giant bullwhip. He was only pulled up short when he reached the coastline but the smell was coming from a short way to the east so he dashed along the clifftops, narrowing eyes fixed on the sky until, sure enough, he spotted three airborne shapes up ahead which could have been birds, but which looked rather too bulky to be birds.

He could also see what looked like a small, long blond-haired girl flying alongside them and for a moment he wondered whether he was seeing things, but he quickly shook that from his mind and roared, "OI! LILY! BLUE CAT! WHITE CAT! IT'S ME! HOOOIIII!"

He kept running as he ran but the wind was still blowing into his face and it quickly whipped his voice away with it, so the Exceed continued flying, unaware that they were being hailed. Gajeel growled in irritation, but then smirked and he drew to a stop, knowing a surefire way to get their attention as he sucked in one deep breath. Then…

"TETSURYUU NO… HOOUUUUKOOUUUUUU!"

* * *

Kingsley brushed his hands together as he strode over to where Rufus Scrimgeour was waiting for him.

"Good news?" Scrimgeour asked.

"Yes sir. We've managed to round up anyone that saw exactly what was going on and modify their memories, including the four Muggles who were actually trying to rob the place. Our story that this was some kind of gas explosion should hold firm in everyone's minds now."

"Good," Rufus nodded. "But there was no sign of the man who did this?"

"None. Most likely he's far away by now."

"This is an almost frightening situation, Shacklebolt. I've been at this job for many years and never once have I encountered any kind of attack like the one in that bank. We need to find the man who did this and bring him in for some serious questioning. Most notably, and what the heck he is."

"Sir, I do feel the need to point out that this man appeared to be actually trying to help by stopping the robbers."

"That may be, but he destroyed half the bank in the process, while there were still people inside. Quite clearly he is dangerous, not to mention a serious threat to the Statute of Secrecy - we were lucky that this time it was such a small town that he was in. If he'd done something like that in London it would probably have taken hundreds of us to keep it covered up. Not to mention from the look of that footage, this man looked rather unbalanced to say the least."

"Of course," Kingsley nodded. "Any plans on where to start looking?"

"He's most likely on the other side of the country by now. As soon as we're done here we'll head back to the Ministry. Then we'll…"

He broke off just as a round of gasps suddenly filled the street and dozens of people started pointed to the south and towards the large grey tornado-like surge that whipped up into the air on the horizon. It looked only like a thin, diagonal pillar from this distance and it was only there for a few seconds before it petered out into nothingness but to both Kingsley and Scrimgeour, it was instantly recognisable.

"Looks like he might not be as far away as thought," Kingsley observed.

"Damn it," Scrimgeour growled. "Now we have to start Obliviating people again. Shacklebolt, you're in charge here. Aurors Tonks and Savage with me! We need to find that man now!"

* * *

All three Exceed almost fell out of the sky as the Iron Dragon's breath attack whooshed up a short distance from actually hitting them, but all of them instantly recognised who it belonged to. And when they spotted the distant figure of Gajeel waving at them, grins immediately appeared on all three faces, particularly Lily's, as they reversed trajectory and whooshed down towards him, Mavis following a little slower.

"Gajeel!" Lily cried as he landed in front of him. "I cannot tell you how glad I am to see ACK!"

"THANK HEAVEN YOU'RE ALRIGHT, LILY!" Gajeel had immediately seized the small, black Exceed in his strong arms and practically slammed him into a tight hug, almost sobbing hysterically as he rubbed his face against that of his cat's.

"OW! OW! OW!" Lily yelled as Gajeel pressed down on the his burnt back, an action which immediately made Gajeel release him and finally notice his injuries.

"What the… the heck happened to you, Lily?"

"Had a run in with a dragon that didn't end well," Lily muttered.

"A dragon?" Gajeel's eyes widened. "You mean that Acnologia did…"

"No, not him. A different one," Lily shook his head. "It was a black one, but this one breathed fire. Hence the burning. I was trying to protect Wendy and the others from it and ended up getting a little cooked."

"Wendy? The little girl? Where is she? And who's this?" the Iron Dragon Slayer frowned when Mavis pulled to a hovering stop in front of him.

"Good afternoon," Mavis smiled, performing a little curtsy in mid-air. "Pleasure to meet you in person at last, Gajeel Redfox."

"Look, there's a lot to talk about here," Charla interjected before Gajeel's line of questioning could go much further. "And while I'm grateful at last to find a friendly face in this world, Gajeel, I have to insist that we keep moving. We got separated from Wendy yesterday and we've been trying to find her ever since."

"Charla's right," Happy nodded. "Do you think you could help us look for her Gajeel? You've got the nose of a Dragon Slayer just like Natsu so you should be able to right?"

"Course I can. It was by smell that I found you lot otherwise you probably would have flown right past me and been none the wiser. But I can't smell the little girl anywhere right now. She definitely ain't nearby."

"All the more reason for us to keep moving," Charla insisted. "We can answer your questions on the move but please… please Gajeel…" she practically fell to her knees as fresh tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. "Please help us find her. She's all alone now and for all we know she could be dead and I just… I just can't…" she placed her paws over her mouth to try and stop the hiccoughing that shortly followed.

"Charla," Happy held her lightly, and the white cat didn't attempt to stop him.

"Whoa, whoa, alright, alright, don't go crying on me," Gajeel murmured, though he sounded more awkward that annoyed. "I'm sure she's fine. That girl's a lot tougher than she looks… and sounds… and acts. She's a damn Dragon Slayer and we don't go down easy. Trust me, that I definitely know."

"Yeah… yeah, I know… but can we please go. I'm so worried…"

"Fine, but you aren't flying anywhere Lily. Gajeel immediately picked up his Exceed partner and tucked him under one arm. "You need to rest."

"What? But I can…"

"No buts about it, Lily. You're resting and that's that. Now, who wants to carry me?"

"I'll do it," Happy volunteered. "I carry Lucy all the time and she's heavier than Gajeel."

"It is almost a good thing she is not here to hear you say that," Gajeel chuckled dryly before Happy swung around behind him to grip him and hoist him up into the air, straining a little at first since Gajeel weighed more than Natsu but quickly adjusting. "But I want a full explanation as to what the heck's been happening, alright? And especially who she is," he glanced across to Mavis.

"I'm the founding Master of the Fairy Tail guild, Mavis Vermilion," the ghostly girl replied immediately.

"I see. Wait… WHAT!?"

"Believe me, Gajeel," Lily murmured as they flew off down the coastline again. "It's not even been two days, but it is a very long story."

And as the group winged away, beginning to give Gajeel their explanations of what exactly had happened after Acnologia fired at them, three distinct pops indicated the presence of three people Apparating close to the spot where they had been standing not long ago. Scrimgeour, Tonks and Savage remained unnoticed by the departing Exceeds and their companions, but all three witches and wizards definitely saw them, soaring off into the distance.

"Curses," muttered Scrimgeour. "That must be him. We missed him!"

"Wait, has he got wings?" Tonks squinted. "He's definitely not flying a broom. Who the heck is this guy?"

"I do not know but we need to inform the Minister of what we know. And then we need to find this guy."

* * *

About an hour later and Gajeel was asking, for about the third time, "Are you sure you're not kidding me?"

"No, Gajeel, we're not. That's the story," Lily insisted.

"And every single part of it is the truth?"

"Yes, yes, it is."

"Huh, sounds like you've been getting more excitement than me. And no offence, Lily, but I'd kinda hoped that Edolas would be the last we see of any universe except for the one that I was born in."

"No offence taken whatsoever," Lily replied. "Especially since there's no Anima in this one that we can use to send us back to Earthland again."

"We can worry about getting back home again when the time comes," Mavis insisted. "For now, the safety of our guild members is our main priority, starting with Wendy and extending to all of the others."

"Not to mention we haven't exactly given a great first impression to the people of this world," Happy noted.

"What I don't get is why those guys back in that town were so shocked by my magic," Gajeel folded his arms. "You said you guys were attacked by people who threw strange magical lights at you yet all those ordinary people didn't seem to have a frigging clue about magic. And they have dragons living not far away from them. What kind of messed up world is this anyway?"

"It is rather strange," Lily agreed.

"Well, we can figure out the mystery another time," Charla insisted. "For now let's stick with finding Wendy. You are trying to locate her scent, right Gajeel?"

"I'll let you know the moment I get a whiff of her, but we don't exactly know where we're going. We could be heading further away from her and we wouldn't have any idea."

"That's not the most encouraging thing you could have said, Gajeel," Lily admonished him.

"Well, I'm just telling it like it is. But this guild's a resilient one, as is everyone in it. We'll find her, we'll find them all, no matter how long it takes us to do it. Heck, that Lisanna girl got thrown into another universe and separated from everyone for two whole years but we found her and brought her back home even though nobody knew what had happened to her. This time, we're out looking. And we'll tear every boulder out of the ground in this entire world just to look under it if we have to, until we're all back together again."

The Exceeds and Mavis all smiled and Happy said, "It's not usually you that gives the rousing speeches, Gajeel. Usually Natsu does that."

"You want to be careful or people will think you're going soft," Lily snickered.

"Shaddup, damned cats, or I'll feed you to the next dragon we see."

"And there's the Gajeel we all know and love."

"Did I not just say shaddup?"

* * *

It was several hours later that the Aurors stationed in Portree were able to head back to the offices in the Ministry back in London, although their jobs were far from over since they would each have quite a bit of paperwork to do now to report this incident. Kingsley was fairly certain that he had a headache coming on, and was grateful that people from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes had been called in to help with the Obliviating - it had lessened the load that they Aurors had had to do considerably.

But when they finally did get back to the Ministry, Dawlish was waiting for them with a report from the events surrounding the glowing sphere in the field in Nottinghamshire.

"There's still been no success in dispelling the thing but they have managed to move it. It has now been transported to somewhere in the Department of Mysteries via Portkey."

"Good work," Scrimgeour nodded. "Tell the Unspeakables in there that they are to keep us informed just in case it turns out to be dangerous."

Dawlish nodded and hurried away, and as everyone else fanned out in order to get back to work, Tonks was finally able to murmur to Kingsley, "You don't think that this guy at Portree could have anything to do with You-Know-Who, do you?"

"We can't discuss this here, Nymphadora," Kingsley replied lightly. "All I can say is that this doesn't exactly fit in with the actions in the shadows he's been taking so far, but honestly I don't know. But we'll discuss this later. For now, we keep doing our jobs."

* * *

Aberforth sighed as he leaned against the wall, an unusually clean glass of Firewhiskey clutched in one hand. Wendy was now lying in the other room on the makeshift bed that he had conjured for her, so conked out that he guessed she wouldn't wake up even if he set off a fireworks display in the dingy living room.

It had been quite an experience having someone else staying under his roof again. It was something that hadn't happened in decades, since Aberforth didn't really like the company of anyone other than his goats. But Wendy had been charming, polite and curious about everything and he had found himself remarkably happy to answer most of the questions that she had about this world, while he in turn had been rather fascinated about her own.

Usually he thought of most kids as messy, irresponsible and immature, but Wendy had been none of that. She sounded much older and wiser than most kids her age did, which was presumably as a result of the things that she had experienced, though she had giggled a lot at some of his more amusing stories.

For the first time in a very long time, Aberforth felt rather grateful that Albus had come to ask him for help. His afternoon had been severely brightened by her presence.

Although she would certainly never serve as a replacement for Arania… he could get used to having her around.


	6. Animal Madness

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 6:- Animal Madness**

* * *

"He is…" Ron said jerkily, tearing the piece of paper in his hands in half "the world's…" he tore it into quarters "biggest…" he tore it into eighths _"git." _And he threw the pieces of paper onto the common room fire.

The atmosphere in the room was now a somewhat sour one, though Ron tried to brush it off as if nothing had really happened by trying to get back to the homework that they had spent pretty much all day doing. It was now past midnight and Harry, Ron and Hermione were the only ones still up. Hermione didn't actually need to be but she'd finished knitting another set of socks she was going to leave out for the House Elves and had been contemplating going to bed before Ron had received a letter that took him completely by surprise from his older brother Percy.

Not that Percy had had anything Ron or the others actually wanted to read. And as Hermione offered to look over their homework so that they could finish it sometime before the sun came up and they had to get to Monday morning classes, Harry felt like he was off in another world.

Everything had changed so much. It seemed like every single year he had been here, the people around him seemed to think of him differently.

The first year had had everyone gawking at him for pretty much its entire length, staring at the Boy-Who-Lived that had suddenly sprung back into the Wizarding World, although from Harry's perspective it had been like the Wizarding World had sprung onto him.

The second year had had a very large population of the school thinking that Harry was downright evil and responsible for petrification attacks on other students and castle residents. It seemed practically everyone outside of Gryffindor had been convinced he was the Heir of Slytherin after Harry had accidentally revealed to everyone that he was a Parselmouth and could therefore talk to snakes. Even he hadn't really known about this talent until then.

The third year seemed to be the best one as far as he was concerned. People no longer believed he was evil but they did all believe him to be a hero again, but for most the novelty of his presence at the school had worn off and for the most part Harry felt slightly ordinary.

Then the fourth year had come along and rather ruined that after he'd been selected for the Triwizard Tournament. A huge number of the people at the school thought that he was a cheater and glory hound to begin with and then when he started doing relatively well in the tournament many of them started to hero-worship him more than ever.

And now that Voldemort had returned, most people thought him to be mad or unbalanced for continuously insisting that he was telling the truth. And for Percy Weasley to be one of them… well that hit him hard. Sure, he'd never got on with Percy nearly as much as the rest of his family and Percy had turned against all the rest of them as well, but he'd lived with the guy. Had Percy ever actually seen him do anything he considered unbalanced or did Percy just believe that he was because the Ministry did?

In reality, five years was not actually that long. How could so many people's perceptions of one guy change so many times throughout that time period?

And not for the first time, Harry really wished he could be considered the ordinary, average wizard that he personally believed he was.

But despite everything people had believed about him, not a single one of them had ever believed that. He was fairly certain that Ron and Hermione, even though they didn't treat him any differently from anyone else they knew, didn't consider him ordinary either and they were the ones who knew him best.

But his attention was diverted away from his internal mulling by Ron tapping on his arm while Hermione looked over what they'd written and occasionally scribbled at something with her quill.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked, with concern.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine," Harry nodded, though it wasn't exactly true and Ron could tell.

"Don't let Percy get you down, Harry," Ron insisted. "I don't think there was a single thing he wrote in that letter that wasn't total crap. You remember what he called Umbridge? A delightful woman? I mean, really? Anyone who can possibly think that about Toad-face has to be completely barmy. I dunno what the heck's going on in Percy's head right now he's just proven how much of an idiot he is in that letter."

Harry chuckled but only slightly. "Yeah, but its not just him, is it Ron? It's not just him by a long shot."

Ron didn't really seem to know what to say to that but Hermione looked up from what she was doing and said, "We know you're right, Harry. We know that you're telling the truth. And one day, everyone else will too. One way or another, they will find out you were right all along and then they will be more than sorry."

"But I don't want them to be sorry. I want them to believe me now so they can help us actually do something," Harry griped. "I don't want to wait until Voldemort storms the Ministry for them to finally understand that I'm not lying." He ignored the flinch that came from Ron when he said the Dark Lord's name.

Hermione sighed. "Well, we'll just have to bear it until we can actually figure out a way of proving it and getting your story out."

Harry sighed and nodded, knowing Hermione was right, but hating it all the same. And he was rather grateful when Ron tried to change the subject by saying, "So, you think the Quidditch pitch will be fixed before our next practice?"

Harry actually laughed properly this time. They hadn't seen what had happened on the pitch but earlier that day Angelina Johnson had come rushing into the common room, looking decidedly unsure whether she should laugh or worry.

"The whole school's talking about it," she had declared to the both of them. "Apparently there was some kind of freak windstorm near the pitch when the Slytherin team were practicing. Many of the players sustained some pretty big bruises and I think Warrington's broom was snapped in half somehow. I saw Malfoy's broom too - it looked more like a mop than a broom with those flattened bristles. Good luck being streamlined on that, Malfoy."

She'd gone on to explain how apparently a large chunk had been torn out of the stands, practically being reduced to rubble in one place. Harry could tell that while she thought it amusing that the Slytherin team, who had been so mocking of them the previous day, had got rather a big comeuppance today, she was clearly worried about whether something similar would happen to them the next time they went out training.

But Harry was quick to point out that it had never happened before and it probably wouldn't happen again.

"You're right, of course," Angelina agreed. "I hope you're right though. We really need things to kick off in our next session."

Ron had winced visibly at this, but Angelina didn't appear to notice. Harry had decided to refrain from comment about it. He knew Ron was blaming himself for everything that had gone wrong in the last session and indeed his nerves had caused him to mess up several times but Harry knew that telling him otherwise would not help. Ron would know he was only saying that out of pity.

Now that Ron had brought the topic up again though, Harry nodded and said, "I reckon so. Things get fixed pretty quickly around here. And when we go back out there we'll nail it. Maybe we should learn how to cast some kind of wind spells in case Malfoy shows up again. Maybe we can make him afraid to come near the pitch because every time he does he gets blown off his feet."

Ron laughed out loud at this. "What a unique way to eliminate the competition. I wish I could have seen his face when he got blown over though. I wish I could have seen all of their faces."

Hermione made some kind of disapproving noise in the back of her throat before she placed her quill down and said, "Well, here's some improvements I've made for you. Soon as you get that done you'll finally be able to get to bed."

"Eh, we've got History of Magic first thing tomorrow. I can always catch up on sleep in that," Ron pointed out, and Harry laughed.

Hermione though, as expected, disapproved again, and opened her mouth to tell the both of them for about the three-hundredth time that they should actually make an effort to listen to the boring Professor Binns when suddenly a hissing, "Psst…" interrupted her before she could start.

"Oi, you three," a familiar voice whispered. "Down here. In the fire."

"Sirius!" Harry blinked the moment he spotted his godfather's head sitting calmly amongst the flames still burning faintly in the hearth next to them. This wasn't the first time that Sirius had contacted him this way. It was a special form of communication that involved Floo Powder. Sirius had told him that you had to have special access to fireplaces in the Floo Network granted by the Ministry in order to transport your entire body from one fireplace to another but anyone could use this head only way of communicating to any fireplace in the network. That meant that Sirius could talk to them in this manner but could not transport himself directly into the Gryffindor common room in this way.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked, looking up slightly as if to make extra sure that there was nobody else in the room. His Godfather was, after all, considered a dangerous criminal by most everyone in the Wizarding World even though he had not actually committed the crime.

"Why else would I pop into your fireplace by to talk to you?" Sirius snickered. "I've been appearing for about half a second every hour, hoping you'd stay up when everyone else had gone to bed. Looks like I was lucky. Cramming in all your homework at the weekend last minute when you should be doing it in the week, Harry? Naughty, naughty."

Harry laughed. "Don't tell me you didn't do the same."

"Actually I rarely did my homework on the weekends either," Sirius grinned, and both Ron and Harry snorted at this, while Hermione immediately started fretting about what if someone had actually seen him there when he'd been checking? Which was, admittedly, a valid concern.

But Hermione dropped her protests quite quickly after the conversation started, far more interested in hearing what he actually had to say. Harry's lightning scar, his trademark 'gift' he'd received from Voldemort that fateful night when the Dark Lord had killed his parents and then tried to kill him when he was a baby, had recently hurt when their 'delightful' new teacher, Umbridge, had touched him to look at the back of his hand in her torturous detention. Harry had written a coded letter to Sirius about it and Sirius was now replying, assuring Harry that he didn't think Umbridge was one of Voldemort's followers - a Death Eater - but agreeing that she was definitely a horrible woman.

Nothing that Sirius had to say made Harry feel any happier. Sirius cycled through Umbridge's hatred of part humans, including werewolves and how her actions had made it increasingly difficult for Remus Lupin to find work, which made all three of them scowl.

And of course the information that Cornelius Fudge thought Dumbledore was going to start training his students to combat the Ministry in order to seize power… how much more ludicrous did it get than that? Preventing them from learning defensive magic right at the time when they needed to learn it the most… Harry had met Fudge before and while he'd always seemed a bit of a bumbler to him, he'd been sure Fudge was a pretty decent bloke. So much for that.

And there was no news of Hagrid either, which was nothing but worrisome despite Sirius' assurances that the half-giant gamekeeper could take care of himself.

But it was after this that Sirius hesitated slightly, an action that caught the attention of all three of the fifth-year students.

"There's something else, isn't there?" Hermione guessed, fiddling with the hem of her robes.

"Well, yeah…" Sirius grinned lopsidedly. "Not really sure if I should be telling you this one since its not technically Order business at this stage but… you heard about those bright lights that appeared in the sky yesterday, I assume?"

"Yeah, we heard about them?" Ron blinked. "What have they got to do with anything?"

"As far as we know, nothing, but the Ministry actually found one. Your brother, Bill, was called to the scene actually Ron and he says it looked like some large, glowing orb with a funny looking symbol on it. He said that it was like some kind of shield, but totally impenetrable - he couldn't find a way to break it."

"You serious?" Ron's eyes widened. "Bill was boasting to us just last summer about the tomb of this ancient pharaoh guy that had had curses placed on this shield that tried to turn anyone that entered into crocodiles and how he managed to take it down without breaking a sweat."

"Nevertheless, he could not break through this one. But the orb thing isn't really the issue here. It's what happened after that. Kingsley and Tonks were there with Bill at the site before they suddenly got called away. Apparently there was a magical attack of some kind on a Muggle Bank in some small village on the Isle of Skye today."

"The Isle of Skye? But that's pretty close to here," Hermione gasped. "Was anybody killed?"

"Was it Death Eaters?" Harry agreed instantly.

"I don't know the details. Kingsley and Tonks are the only ones who could tell you at this stage and they haven't come and told me anything yet. They might still be working for all I know. Sometimes something like this can take a while to sort out. But that's not the only funny incident that took place in that area recently. Ron, your brother Charlie was called back into the country to head out there to investigate involving two Hebridean Black dragons."

"What kind of incident?" Ron asked with curiosity. "Is Charlie going to be around long? I'd like to see him."

"I don't rightly know how long he'll be around but… apparently something attacked the two Dragons. And actually managed to wound them too. You'll probably see it in tomorrow's papers - Charlie said he had to talk to the press about it."

"Something attacked dragons?" Ron's eyes were wide. "Who or what in their right mind would willingly go up and attack a dragon?"

Harry could easily share this sentiment. After all, he'd been pitted against a vicious Hungarian Horntail in the Triwizard Tournament last year and was in no hurry to repeat the experience.

"Charlie said that one of the guys who was there was babbling on about some giant cat with wings," Sirius pulled a face. "Though it sounded like he'd been inhaling Bubotuber pus fumes to me. Look, the details aren't really important though I think Molly would kill me if she found out I'd been telling you this when it might not even be a Death Eater thing but… I guess I feel I should warn you to be on your guard. Dumbledore's called an emergency Order meeting to take place tomorrow night and, well, I'm sure that you'll be safe in Hogwarts but… well…"

The three of them looked at each other wryly. It was true that Hogwarts was infinitely safer than most places, but it had been proven a few times over the years that it was not infallible. Sirius was the only person that had technically broken in back when they had thought he was actually the enemy, but still, it was possible.

"You reckon you could find a way to tell us what happens in the meeting?" Harry asked.

"Depends what Dumbledore says, Harry, but it may be nothing you need to worry about at all. At this stage even I don't know the details. I'm just giving you a heads up. Anyway, let's change the subject - when's your next Hogsmeade visit?"

Sirius' suggestion that he might be able to come out in dog form to visit them was quickly shouted down, and they could all tell he was more than a little disgruntled when he left the fireplace. But they were all tired and didn't really have the time to dwell on it, so instead they finished up on the essays and headed to bed.

Despite his fatigue, Harry lay awake for a while, staring up at the canopy of his four-poster bed but not really seeing it. It was killing him, not knowing what was out there. Not knowing what Voldemort was doing, or what the world was doing? Before he'd always had the events in school to keep him occupied, but now everything was moving on a much bigger scale and the events of the school were only a mere part of it.

He found himself almost hoping the nearby incidents actually were Death Eater related. If they were then at least there was a chance Voldemort could be exposed soon and the could actually start opposing him properly instead of enduring all this pointless idiocy from the Ministry.

But who was it if it wasn't Death Eaters?

Just when was he going to get the answers he sought?

Eventually though he managed to doze off though he was not ready at all to start the second week of school when he did wake up some hours later. The first week had been such a disaster. Was the second one going to be any better?

* * *

"Have you got anything yet, Gajeel?" Charla asked for what may have been the tenth time that morning.

"Would you quit asking me that?" Gajeel grunted irritatedly. "If I get something then I'll tell you that I've got something. Until I get something then I'll zip it. Asking me if I've got something is pointless, okay?"

"Gajeel, don't yell at her," Happy protested, shifting his grip on the large Dragon Slayer.

"I ain't yelling," Gajeel shook his head. "But I gotta job to do and badgering me about it is not going to help."

"Of course, of course. I'm sorry," Charla wrung her paws together. "It's just… I don't think I've been separated from Wendy for so long before. Not since the day I hatched."

"I haven't been separated from Natsu for this long either," Happy's tail sagged slightly. "And we don't have any idea where he is at all."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Mavis said. "For all we know right now, Natsu may be safe and sound inside one of my Fairy Spheres. In fact, he probably is."

"I know," Happy nodded. "Wendy's the priority now."

"What if we've gone the wrong way though?" Charla pressed her ears flat against her head in agitation. "She could be stranded on some rock way out to sea waiting for us and we wouldn't have a clue."

Gajeel grimaced and tried his damnedest not to let Charla's fretting get on his nerves, which was far from easy for him. Truth be told, he was rather worried himself, though of course he wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even to Lily. The group had reached what appeared to be mainland late last evening and spent the majority of last night in a cave, forcing Charla to relax and rest, before continuing again at first light. Now they were flying up the coast, trying to locate the missing Sky Dragon Slayer somehow.

Gajeel hadn't known Wendy for very long in the grand scheme of things, but while everyone in the guild were now, at least somewhat, his friends, she was one of the few that he could really consider himself kinda close to. When he'd first met her he had tried extremely hard to hide his jealousy at the fact that both she and the Salamander had a cat, but she had not been in the least bit intimidated by him. She'd been extremely eager to get to know him, what with him being another Dragon Slayer who's Dragon foster parent had vanished on the same day as her own.

He'd been rather resistant to these attempts to befriend him at first but the kid had a good and honest heart and she was vastly more mature than the Salamander, despite being five years younger than him. She wasn't extremely irritating, like a lot of kids her age were. So he found himself letting her sit nearby and talk to him now and then, particularly after that whole Edolas thing where his respect for her Support Magic had grown phenomenally.

Mirajane had teased him that he was ruining his lone wolf image by taking care of a little lamb like Wendy. He'd threatened to manacle her to the wall and taking her place on the stage next time she was due to sing, like he had before, if she ever said that again. But Mirajane had just smiled and winked at him before going on her way.

On the whole though, Gajeel was still something of an outsider in the guild. He'd won the trust of all its members now, but very few of them actively tried to talk to him on a regular basis. Sometimes one of them would sit across from him, exchange a few words, ask how he was, but it usually didn't take them too long to move on again. Aside from Wendy and Lily, the main one who did was Juvia, whenever she wasn't watching Gray, which was most of the time. But when she wasn't, his fellow former Mage of Phantom Lord was pretty good company.

And while he'd probably throw a punch at most anyone who said to him that he and the Salamander were getting on better, he'd have to admit it was somewhat true. Their previous antagonism had evolved into more of a friendly rivalry. They still insulted and beat the crap out of each other whenever they got the opportunity but that was pretty much the same thing Salamander did with Gray and they were close friends too under the surface.

Was there anyone besides them he was really close to?

Well… there was Levy he supposed.

Gajeel shook his head to derail that thought process before it could go any further. He didn't want to think about Levy right now.

And it was not because he was worried, damn it! He just… had better things to think about right now. Yeah, that was it. He wasn't worried about Levy. No way. Nuh-uh…

Although… he had been her partner for the S-Class exam, and although that had been cancelled, he did feel responsible for her because of it… She'd been right there next to him, holding his hand when Acnologia had fired on them and then…

He shook his head even harder. Gods damn it all, he was not worried about her. He needed to worry about Wendy - the other girl who had been holding his hand right before… or six years before… he'd been separated from everyone.

Focus on Wendy, focus on Wendy, focus on…

He blinked, as a sudden familiar smell began to tickle at the edge of his nostrils. He looked up, wrinkling his nose and narrowing his eyes as he tilted his head from side to side, trying to pick out where the scent was coming from. His eyes locked on the mouth of a wide river that they were approaching now and he pointed towards it. "Head down there," he said.

"Why?" Charla asked sharply. "Do you have something?"

"I might do," Gajeel grinned. "Let's get in closer."

Happy responded hurriedly and whooshed downwards, Charla and Mavis hard behind them as Gajeel's sniffing became practically a continuous noise. The lot of them hovered over the mouth of the river, the three Exceed watching Gajeel's studded nose twitch, before a wide smirk split across his face.

"Got her," he said. "That's Wendy's scent alright. She went up this river."

"Are you sure?" Lily frowned.

"Why would you doubt me?" Gajeel asked. "I know the girl's smell and that's definitely it coming from this river."

"Forgive me, Gajeel but I had always heard that when people were in water, tracking scent was next to impossible," Lily said. And he had good reason to think that. Exceeds had a better sense of smell than a normal human's but it was actually much weaker than that of a normal cat's. As was their eyesight in low light. But of course they could also speak and fly whereas a normal cat could not.

When it came to scent tracking though, Exceeds were really not that great at it.

"Let me guess," Gajeel rolled his eyes. "You've read in fiction books all these scenarios where someone's managed to escape from being scent-tracked by going through a small stream or something. As if suddenly there's no possible way for dogs or whatever to follow them after they do that?"

"Well, yes," Lily nodded. He had done some reading during his downtime in both Extalia and the Royal City of Edolas alike and fiction stories in both often had that exact thing.

"It's bollocks," Gajeel replied, simply. "A stupid thing that authors made up to give the hero the chance to escape from their pursuers. Do you know how scent trails actually work?"

"I have a feeling you're going to tell us," Lily chuckled.

"Scent trails are formed of dead skin cells," Gajeel did indeed tell them. "Every living thing is shedding millions of dead skin cells at all times and those skin cells have the same scent as the person, so they leave a unique trail behind. Going through water doesn't eliminate the smell - the smell lies on top of the water. Sure, running water can take the skin cells and therefore the smell downstream, but it sure as heck doesn't stop you from leaving the trail on the bank when you get out again so unless its a super wide river anything with a nose like mine could pick out where they went without even having to cross."

"Well, I guess you really can learn something new every day," Charla remarked.

"That does make sense," Happy nodded. "That's how Natsu managed to track me and Erza to the Tower of Heaven after we were kidnapped by Erza's old friends. The tower was out on an island in the middle of the ocean and he still knew which way to go."

"Geehee!" Gajeel laughed. "Never underestimate a Dragon Slayers nose."

"So Wendy went up this river for certain," Mavis nodded.

"Definitely. And quite a way up it I'd say. I reckon the smell's over a day old and its been carried downstream over the course of that day."

"Then let's not waste any more time," Charla insisted. "Let's head up the river until we find the point where she got out."

"That's right. We're on the right track," Happy nodded, and the group swooped down low to the water, which ran between two large hills, following its meandering path with tilts of their winks, Charla smiling for the first time in days, before a sudden thought occurred to her and she asked. "Gajeel. Is she okay? Can you tell from the scent?"

"I can't smell her blood, so she's not been harmed enough to make her bleed. And I don't smell death either. Besides, I already told you to stop with your fretting. I said the girl's tough. She's alive. I know it."

Charla felt herself smile again in spite of Gajeel's slight snap at her, and powered her wings to pile on all speed. "We're coming, Wendy. We're on our way."

* * *

Aberforth Dumbledore had not been entirely comfortable with Wendy coming out into the front with him when he opened up the bar that morning. He was well aware that his bar usually attracted far more shady kinds of character than the Three Broomsticks down the road did, but it was amazing the kinds of things you could overhear in an environment like that. Aberforth didn't really care who came in as long as he earned a decent amount from it, enough to keep on living.

But suddenly he had a charge to protect, and she was a charge that reminded him a great deal of his long dead sister, Ariana. Naturally that meant he didn't want to put her in any situation that could cause her harm.

And yet Wendy insisted that she be helpful in some manner and Aberforth could only stand behind the bar and watch in slight amazement as Wendy carried a tray of Butterbeers in two hands over to a group of three witches, one of which might have actually been a hag, and placed it on the table.

"Thank you for coming," Wendy smiled at them. "Please enjoy your drinks." And she picked up the now empty tray and skipped back to the bar with it. Seriously, when had been the last time anyone had ever skipped inside this bar? Aberforth didn't think it had ever happened once.

"How do you make such a good waitress? What are you, twelve?"

"I've actually never done this before," Wendy said. "But I've seen my friend Mirajane-san do it all the time, so I'm trying to do what she does. And what she does is smile and say nice things a lot so that's all I'm trying."

"I'm not entirely sure whether I should ask you to stop or not," Aberforth shook his head. "On the one hand your smiling definitely brightens the place up but on the other this isn't really that kind of bar. You might disturb the customers a little with that perky attitude."

"Oh," Wendy murmured, looking around at the place and registering that it did indeed not look like the pleasant, open environment that Fairy Tail was. "Okay… I'll just help with glasses and dishes and stuff then."

"Wouldn't most kids your age just want any excuse to skive off work?"

"I like being useful," Wendy shrugged, but smiled, putting down the tray and taking up a dishcloth. "And… well…"

"Well what?" Aberforth raised a brow.

"I want… to keep myself busy," Wendy murmured. "I want to… keep my mind off my friends if I can. Because if I think about them, I'll just worry about them and if I just worry about them…"

_Of course,_ Aberforth nodded, kicking himself for not realising it sooner. He quickly coughed before Wendy could dwell on her missing companions too much and said, "Well, there won't be any slackers staying under my roof. Those flasks of Butterbeer need cleaning out. And then later you can try and milk the goats like you said you would."

"My pleasure," Wendy nodded and hurried to carry out his instructions.

* * *

But even as Wendy washed her pots, Gajeel and the Exceed flew upriver and Harry and his friends headed down to breakfast, a quite different set of events was beginning to unfold over five-hundred miles to the south.

Resting between the cities of Southampton and Bournmouth and just north of the Isle of Wight was New Forest, one of the largest areas of woodland, heathland and unenclosed pasture left in all of England - a hotspot for wildlife and for activities of all kinds.

And, nestled right on the edge of a body of water that was somewhere between a large pond and a small lake, a fair distance away from any road or town within the forest, was a large, golden glowing orb that had crashed down through the tree canopy a couple of days ago and lain here, undisturbed, since then.

The bright mark of Fairy Tail shone on the surface of the sphere. And that mark was beginning to blaze, growing brighter every second along with the rest of the sphere. The whole thing shimmered, throbbed and pulsed like some kind of beating heart before, abruptly, it vanished.

Leaving three forms lying still in the place where the sphere had been, strewn out across the bank, half in and half out of the water, looking totally dead to the world but for a slight rising and falling of their chests.

The three of them lay like this for a good fifteen minutes before finally one of them stirred. Lisanna Strauss grunted and raised a hand up to her aching head, unaware that said hand was caked in mud from the bank around her, but suddenly very aware of it when she smeared plenty of it across her forehead. She opened her eyes and stared at her brown-smeared hand in distaste before groaning and pushing herself upwards to have a look around.

"Where am I?" she murmured, blinking through bleary, unfocused eyes at her surroundings. "Did I… did we… am I alive?"

It seemed scarcely too good to be true. Last thing she remembered was trying to channel some power, along with all the others, into Levy and Freed in the hope that they could set up some kind of defensive barrier to stop the mighty Black Dragon, refusing to give up until the bitter end not matter how dire the situations were, as had always been the Fairy Tail way.

Had it actually worked?

As the fog in her brain began to clear and she looked at the forest around her she realised quite quickly that this didn't look like any part of the forest on Tenroujima that she had seen. She wasn't an expert on plants, far from it, but these ones all looked different. Not at tall for one thing. Deciduous for another - not like the massive tropical trees that made up the vegetation on the island.

And then her brain started to kick in properly and she looked around hurriedly for her friends. Whee was the Master? Where were Natsu and Lucy and Erza? Where was her brother and sister, Elfman and Mirajane?

She didn't see any of those, but she did see the two others who had been sharing her Fairy Sphere with her, lying side by side next to each other.

One was her own partner for the S-Class exam, Juvia Lockser.

And the other was the resident Ice Mage who was currently not wearing a shirt (as usual), Gray Fullbuster.

For a moment, Lisanna forgot the urgency of the situation and could only sit there and smile at them, lying close together side by side, as if sleeping. Granted they were coated in mud from the bank and they were covered in bandages just like she herself was but Lisanna thought they looked cute together like that.

Lisanna had only recently gotten to know the Juvia from Earthland. She'd spent two years knowing who Juvia was back in Edolas but that Juvia had been more or less an entirely different person. And she'd watched the Edolas version of Gray constantly fawn over Juvia only to be shot down at every turn. It had been quite a change to come back to Earthland and find it was the total other way around. Not that that was surprising really.

Back in Edolas, she'd always been rooting for Gray to finally win Juvia's heart.

And now that she was back with the Gray she'd known as a child and this other Juvia, she was still rooting for them to get together, and now they looked almost peaceful like that, with Juvia on her side and almost pressed up against Gray, who was on his back.

But Lisanna knew she didn't have time to sit back and let them rest. They needed to find out what had just happened. She pushed herself up, grimacing at the mud which was caked to her side and placed a hand on Juvia's arm, shaking her gently. "Hey, Juvia. Juvia, wake up. Can you hear me?"

Juvia mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Can we have a wedding by the seaside, Gray-sama?" which made Lisanna snort in amusement - even half unconscious Juvia was imagining her future with Gray. But Lisanna shook her more earnestly slowly Juvia's eyes, as blue as her hair, opened wide.

"Juvia, are you okay?"

"Lisanna-san?" Juvia blinked, trying to sit up. "What… what happened? Where are we? Have we…?" she stopped looking around when she noticed Gray lying next to her with the back of his head actually resting in the pond and his black hair waving about in the water. "Gray-sama!" she gasped and shot up immediately, clambering to her knees and leaning over the still form of her intense crush, gripping him by the shoulders and hauling him out of the water, tucking her legs underneath him so that his head was resting on her thighs.

"Gray-sama… Gray-sama, wake up!" she pleaded.

"Don't worry, Juvia, he's fine. I think," Lisanna pushed herself to her feet and stepped around them both to kneel on the other side of him. "Look, he's still breathing, see. And I don't see any new injuries on him."

"What should we do?" Juvia fretted, not looking up from his still form.

"Just try and wake him up, gently," Lisanna suggested.

Juvia nodded but abruptly her face went red as a sudden thought occurred to her. "Maybe… maybe Juvia should… try giving him the… the kiss of life!"

"Er… I'm not entirely sure he actually needs that, Juvia…" Lisanna murmured. "He's breathing just fine, see?" she pointed to Gray's steadily rising and falling chest, the black Fairy Tail mark displayed proudly on his right side.

Juvia made a face that looked, somehow, like a cross between relief and disappointment, but she gently took Gray's shoulders and shook him ever so slightly. "Gray-sama… Gray-sama please open your eyes. Let Juvia know you're okay."

It took a couple more minutes before Gray finally did move and when he did, he awoke to the sight of both Juvia and Lisanna looking down at him with concern. He blinked several times before murmuring, "…What the heck happened?"

"That…" Lisanna observed. "Is a very good question."

"Gray-sama, Juvia is so glad you're alright…" Juvia sighed in relief. "Juvia was really worried about you."

"Well, I'm fine," Gray pushed himself into a sitting position and clicked his neck slightly, staring out at the trees around them. "Though how exactly I'm fine, I haven't the faintest idea. Does anyone else remember the big black dragon that was going to blow us to smithereens."

"All to well," Lisanna nodded.

"Juvia remembers as well," the Water Mage began to take in her surroundings for the first time. "One moment Juvia was standing there holding hands with Gray-sama and Lisanna-san and then… Juvia doesn't remember a thing after that. Not until waking up in the mud next to Gray-sama…" she blushed again at the thought.

"We're still alive then," Gray noted, pushing himself to his feet. "But where are the others?"

"We don't know. We only just woke up here ourselves," Lisanna replied. "Whatever questions you've got, you can bet we probably have the same ones as well."

Juvia stood up as well and moved to stand next to Gray. "Juvia doesn't recognise this place. It doesn't look like Tenrou Island."

"That's what I was thinking. Not least because if it was Tenrou Island, there'd be a bloody great big tree about a mile tall looming above us somewhere. That thing is pretty hard to miss," Gray pointed out.

Lisanna looked around her slightly before murmuring, "It… it doesn't look like Edolas either."

"Huh? Edolas?" Gray looked down at her. "Why would you bring Edolas up?"

"Because that's where I was the last time that I blacked out right after I was attacked and I woke up somewhere completely different," Lisanna remarked. "Back when Elf-niichan lost control of his Beast form and struck me the next thing I remembered after that was landing in a forest just like this. And that forest was in Edolas. But this doesn't look like any Edolas forest I'm familiar with so I don't think we've been transported there again."

"I doubt we could have been anymore. Not with Edolas losing all its magic like it did," Gray remarked.

"This place definitely has magic," Juvia agreed. "Juvia can feel it in the air. But if we're not on Tenrou Island anymore… what should we do, Gray-sama?"

"Heck if I know," Gray grumbled. "What did you do when you got lost in Edolas, Lisanna?"

"Nothing that could remotely be considered a plan," Lisanna answered. "It seemed the only option to me was to pick a direction and walk in it, calling for my brother and sister in the hope that they'd hear me. It took me two days before I found something, and I think it was a stroke of luck that that something was the Edolas Fairy Tail."

"Well…" Gray murmured. "I don't know if we've got much choice but to do that again. Just… start walking and see if we can find the others. Anyone else got a better plan?"

"Nope," Lisanna got to her feet, brushing dirt of her clothes.

"Juvia will go wherever Gray-sama leads," Juvia nodded devotedly.

"Uh-huh…" Gray murmured. "Shall we pick at random or…"

"Ooh now, isn't this interesting," said a slightly nasal voice that instantly had all of them of edge as it seemed to come out of nowhere. "Are they what was inside the baby golden egg thing, are they, are they? They all look like cripples with those bandages on, so they do."

"Who's there?" Gray demanded, placing his hands together in preparation to use his Ice Magic. "Where are you?"

"Oh, hark at his big turd, making demands of me. And he can't even see me either. Ha, he must be blind as an effing bat."

"Nobody says things like that to Gray-sama," Juvia flared up instantly, scowling at the surrounding bushes. "Show yourself."

"Aaw, how sickeningly cute, coming to her man's rescue, is she? What, is he so rubbish that he has to get his woman to pick his fights for him?"

"Gray-sama is far stronger than whoever you are!" Juvia flushed red.

"And she's not my woman!" Gray agreed awkwardly, his hands growing cold as he began to call on his ice powers. "Get out here before I freeze your butt, you…"

He was stopped by Lisanna putting a hand on his arm. The youngest Strauss sibling shook her head, before turning and offering the vegetation a bright smile. "We're sorry if we're intruding or something but we could really use some help. Can you come out so we can see you? We'd be really grateful for it and we won't hurt you. Cross my heart."

There was a slight pause before the voice said, "Well this one's nice at least, even though she looks weird with that white hair." And suddenly a head popped out of the undergrowth not far away from them - a small pointed head with a snout ending in a big black nose, large ears perched atop it and black markings around the eyes that looked like some kind of mask. But it was definitely not the face of a human.

"So, were these three stashed away inside the small golden sphere thing after all? Thought it was the world's weirdest tent when I first saw it, I did." the creature said as it moved out into the open, revealing a long slender body with grey, brown and black fur and a long tail pointing out behind it.

"It's… a ferret…" Juvia blinked.

The creature, which did indeed look like a ferret but twice as big, hissed. "This wench clearly knows nothing. I'm not a ferret, no I'm not. I'm a Jarvey. Maybe you should keep an encyclopaedia of magical creatures tucked between those big boobs of yours!"

"Hey!" Juvia squeaked, immediately covering her chest with her arms, but also half hoping that this sentence would prompt Gray to try and take a glance at her. He didn't, but he did look angry at the creature's words.

"Never heard of a Jarvey before," he growled.

"Then someone's clearly been living with his head in the toilet for all his life. Explains why his head is full of crap."

Gray's snarl of irritation was cut off by Lisanna again, and the girl stepped forwards and crouched down in front of the Jarvey. "You know, there's really no need to be rude," she said. "We're just a group of mages who have lost our way. Can you tell us if we're still in Earthland?"

"Eh? I thought that you might actually be intelligent," scoffed the Jarvey. "Where do you think you are, Mars Land? Of course you're on Earth Land. Jeez, what's wrong with you people."

Gray and Juvia watched with wide eyes as Lisanna just smiled and continued as if she'd not been insulted at all. "That's good to know," she said. "But have you seen anyone else nearby recently? We were part of a big group but it seems we've been separated from them somehow. My sister and brother would be among them as well as…" she did a quick count on her fingers. "Eighteen of our other friends. Do you think you could have seen them?"

"Haven't seen any other damn human dorks around for a while," the Jarvey shrugged its small shoulders. "Just as well really - the forest always smells much better when there's no people clopping around and stinking it all to high heaven. Ugh."

Lisanna bit her lip. "Thank you for telling us," she said, looking back at Gray and Juvia, who looked at each other in turn. If there friends weren't nearby, then where the heck were they?

"Though of course there is the bigger golden egg thingie that showed up the same time as your little one. Nearly flattened me when it landed, it did."

"Bigger golden egg thingie?" Gray frowned. "What are you talking about anyway?"

"With every question he reveals more and more how stupid he is," the Jarvey rolled its eyes. "I'm talking about the whacking great glowing sphere thing that was there right where you three were when I saw you. Came falling out of the sky and nearly took my head off, thanks very much. That was two days ago? What were the three of you doing in that thing for two days? Getting frisky with each other I'll bet."

Juvia went redder than Erza's hair and made an incomprehensible squealing noise and Gray froze in place, eye twitching, looking as if he couldn't decide whether to attack the Jarvey or not. Even Lisanna blushed a little at this but she shook her head and said, "It's nothing like that - we must have been unconscious the whole time. We only just woke up here and we definitely weren't here before this. You say we were inside some large glowing sphere?"

"Now I'm wondering if she's deaf too. Yes, that's what I've been saying, dumbbell."

"And there's a bigger one of these same spheres nearby?"

"Duh!"

"Is there any chance that you can lead us to it so we can see it for ourselves."

"And why should I do that, hm, hm?" the Jarvey bobbed its head. "You humans are all the same. Clotpoles, the lot of you, running around thinking that you're in charge of everything. What douches."

"Alright, I've officially decided I don't like this guy," Gray huffed. "Let's just find this other sphere thing ourselves."

"We don't know where to look though," Juvia pointed out, still very red in the face.

"How hard can something like that be to find though?" Gray shrugged.

"You'd be surprised," Lisanna stated. "Just give me a second." She turned back to the Jarvey and said, "You'd have our immense gratitude if you could just show us the way to this other sphere thing. Please. It would mean so much to us."

The Jarvey and Lisanna both stared one another in the eye for several moments before the Jarvey said, "Well, you're nice, I guess. I'll take you to the Sphere, even if the Gaylord and the Squealer over there have to come too. This way…" he shot off into the undergrowth suddenly, before popping his head back up out of a bush several metres away. "Come on, come on."

Lisanna winked at both Gray and Juvia, who stared in undisguised amazement for a moment before the three of them followed on, the Jarvey disappearing and then reappearing further away whenever they got close and yelling at them to hurry up, still throwing the occasional insult in whenever he could.

"How did you do that?" Gray asked with a whisper. "Almost all those names that guy keeps calling us can be applied to him. I didn't think he'd every help us in a million years."

"Well," Lisanna rubbed the back of her head slightly. "It's not entirely his doing. I may have… spurred him on a bit with my Take Over. I'm not controlling him per se but… I'm giving him a bit of a nudge to helping us."

"Of course, Lisanna-san uses Animal Soul Take Over magic," Juvia nodded in understanding. "That means that she can not only Take Over the properties and turn into animals but she can control them too."

"Yeah," Lisanna nodded. "Elf-niichan let me practice it on his parakeet when I was younger. I hardly ever use that part of my power though. Especially not in battle - I refuse to put innocent animals in danger for me. And one time when we were younger, Happy asked me to try it on him to see if it worked, but it didn't. I guess that's because the Exceed don't technically count as animals. But apparently this Jarvey does."

"Still, what an asshole," Gray muttered. "What the heck did we do to earn all those insults he threw at us?"

"Nothing. That just strikes me as his character," Lisanna shrugged. "I think we might need to take him with a pinch of salt."

"Well I'm hoping that he won't be around for very long," Gray scowled.

"Juvia is in agreement," the Water Mage coughed, cheeks colouring again as some of the Jarvey's suggestions ran through her head again.

"Up this hill, fatasses!" the Jarvey was standing out in the open again now at the top of a rise. "It's right here."

The three Mages trudged up the hill and as soon as they joined the large mustelid at the top they stopped, staring with wide eyes. For there indeed in a clearing before them was sitting another Fairy Sphere - this one at least five times as large as the one that they themselves had been in. But of course, they didn't know that since they hadn't even seen that one.

"There's the Fairy Tail mark," Juvia nodded, rubbing at her leg where her own mark was. (It was also the same place she'd punched her own leg to prevent Meredy from killing Gray and was still a little sore but mostly healed thanks to Wendy's previous efforts before Acnologia's attack)

"So this is what we were inside?" Lisanna asked. "Something like this? For two days?"

"Must have been cosy," the Jarvey snickered, which did nothing to help Juvia's blush.

"Does that mean the rest of our friends are in here?" Gray asked, stepping forward and placing his hand on the glowing sphere which was as solid as rock under his hand. He tried to peer through it and could make out some shapes beyond but he couldn't make out who they might be, though there did seem to be a lot of them.

"They could be," Lisanna remarked. "But what is this thing anyway?"

"Juvia thinks it looks like some type of magical forcefield," the Water Mage noted. "Perhaps this is what protected us from Acnologia's attack back on Tenroujima."

"Sounds logical but how do you explain it falling from the sky?" Gray asked.

"Juvia can't. And Juvia also can't explain why the three of us were in a separate sphere when others are in this one. After all, we were all standing in a circle when Acnologia struck."

"Another good point," Lisanna moved over and placed her ear against the Sphere, listening for any sound of movement coming from within but able to hear nothing. It was slightly warm to the touch and seemed to make a very, almost imperceptibly low magical humming noise. "So, what do we do now? Should we try and get inside it?"

"Step back," Gray huffed as he put his hands together. "I'll see if I can break my way through. If this thing did protect us from a dragon's roar attack then I doubt I can but I'll still try." As Lisanna and Juvia quickly backed off to give him room, Gray called, "ICE-MAKE… HAMM…"

Right before he could form the Hammer attack though the Sphere suddenly flashed brightly, forcing Gray to stumble backwards and shield his eyes from the brightness. The three Mages and the Jarvey watched as the Sphere pulsed and rippled across its entire surface, intricate golden patterns washing across it like lattices before the sphere slowly began to dissolve away right before their eyes.

"Well, that's convenient," Lisanna said as she hurried forward. "Mira-nee! Elf-niichan! Anyone, are you in there?"

"Uh… no… I don't think they are…" Gray's eyes widened as he saw through a gap in the vanishing Sphere.

Lisanna and Juvia both gasped when the Sphere dissipated entirely and they saw what was within.

It was definitely not their friends.

It was a number of large, green-feathered birds, each the size of a man. They had prominent red crests sticking out the tops of their heads, long, viciously sharp yellow beaks with two fangs protruding from the size, yellow feet with black, hooked talons, claws on their wings and long rat-like tails extending out from between their fan-like tail feathers.

Gray remembered these birds all too well - he and Loke had been attacked and swarmed by several of them during the second task of the S-Class exam. But there had been only five that time. Now, there were at least forty! And they were all spreading their wings and hissing in their direction.

"Clippers…" Lisanna breathed. "It's a flock of Clippers."

"Never mind what they're called, get back!" Gray cried, right at the same time as a cacophonous squawk rang through the clearing and the highly territorial, highly aggressive birds launched themselves into the air and towards them.


	7. The Birds

Hi again everybody. First off, I would like to say that I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed or favourited this story - your support means a lot to me, and it's nice to see people enjoying my work even though this is my first Fairy Tail story, and my first big Harry Potter one. I hope everybody is in for a long ride cos this story isn't ending anytime soon.

And secondly, I've decided I'm going to try - try, mind you - to update this story once a week on Fridays if I can. The same day that a new Fairy Tail manga chapter usually appears in English on the web. We'll see if I can keep to that schedule, shall we, but don't be surprised if I end up being late every now and then.

* * *

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 7:- The Birds**

* * *

"Get out of the way!" Gray yelled as he wheeled around, dashing away as the large birds swept in towards him, the frontrunners opening their beaks and cawing as they closed in on his back. Juvia and Lisanna hurriedly joined him in their flight, reaching the top of the hill they'd just climbed up and leaping over the edge to slide straight down it as bird beaks snapped shut right where they'd been. They were so covered in filth and much already that a little more didn't matter.

The Clippers cawed and screeched indignantly and made to follow, but their progress was hindered by the trees blocking their way - their large wings not built for flying in such a comparatively dense forest. But that wasn't about to stop them and with a flurry of green feathers they flapped low over the treetops, following their progress down the hill from above until one of them found and gap big enough for it to dive through.

Gray cursed as he looked up to see a giant bird descending towards him from above, talons outstretched as if seeking out his face. The Ice Mage was reluctant to harm a creature that was basically just an animal defending what it thought was its territory and he dove backwards and out the way on the snaring talons, hitting the ground with his shoulder and rolling back onto his feet.

"Juvia!" he called.

"Yes!?" Juvia's attention was instantly directed towards him.

"Help me out! We'll create a slide to escape from these guys on!"

"You're so clever, Gray-sama!" Juvia took a moment to exult before she threw her arm out and generated a stream of water that whooshed across the ground through the trees ahead of them. Gray instantly thrust his hands into the water and used his magic to freeze it, leaping onto the icy slide and whooshing down it, freezing another section ahead of him whenever what he'd done already was about to run out. He could have easily created a slide without Juvia's help, but it required a great deal less magic from him to freeze water than it would have to mould the ice out of nothing.

As Juvia leapt onto the slide and breezed after him, Lisanna made to follow before she heard a yelling noise behind her and whirled around with wide eyes. One of the Clippers had managed to corner the Jarvey that had brought them to the Sphere they'd been contained inside and was trying to get through the roots of a large, partially overturned tree to try and get at the cowering creature. Lisanna dashed over and thrust her hands out, using her Take-Over to take control of the Clipper and force it to back away.

"Come on, quick!" Lisanna called to the Jarvey.

"You call these guys your friends, Miss Dandruff?" the Jarvey yelled as he broke cover and ran through them.

"No, we don't!" Lisanna answered as more cawing alerted her to another Clipper clattering in from the side and snapping at her with its beak. She abruptly morphed into her Cat shape to flip agilely to the side, scooping up the Jarvey under one arm and bounding onto the slide, sweeping along in the wake of the other two as they continued to work together to extend the slide.

But the Clippers were relentless and with a never-ending cacophony of screeching they set off in pursuit, the entire flock peering through the treetops to try and stick close behind the fleeing trio of humans, breaking through whenever they found the opportunity and taking another lunge at them, only to be dodged as Gray and Juvia swerved the slide abruptly in another direction.

"Lisanna-san!" Juvia called over her shoulder when the catgirl caught up with them. "Can't you use your Take-Over on them to stop them attacking?"

"Not on all of them at once," Lisanna replied. "I could maybe do two, three, maybe four at a time but not the entire flock!"

"We don't appear to be shaking them!" Gray growled, but then he blanched when he saw several of the Clippers had managed to get ahead of them and were advancing through the trees on foot, their ungainly, hoppity-skipping gait looking utterly ludicrous but their vicious beaks more than enough to make them look threatening.

"Hold your breath!" Juvia cried suddenly and flung her arms out wide, her body turning to water and lost its form, spreading out in all directions. Gray and Lisanna both blanched as they were suddenly submerged in what had been Juvia's body, drenching them in an instant flat, but Juvia blasted herself and them with her up and over the heads of the startled Clippers, before she reconstituted her body and restarted the stream of water ahead. Gray promptly froze it again and they continued on like before, slipping their way through the woods like they were on toboggans down a slope.

The Jarvey coughed and spat out water, "Hey! Warn a guy before you do something like that, Hippohips!"

"Hippohips!" Juvia yelled indignantly though she was not sure what 'hippo' actually meant.

"Really not the time for an argument!" Gray called as the birds continued to clatter around them and overhead. They piled all speed onto the slide and, to their relief, it was not long before they were managing to pull away from the angry flock, who were finding it increasingly difficult to get in at them through the treetops.

That is, they were getting away, right up until they point where the tree-line abruptly ended and they suddenly found themselves shooting across open field.

"Shimata!" Gray exclaimed, looking up again as the birds renewed their attack, diving past the trees behind them and wheeling around the sides to start coming at them from all directions, closing in like a swarm of locusts on a farm.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia yelled, and Gray span around when he realised that he hadn't been looking where he was going and suddenly the slide, no longer following the path that Juvia's water had been taking, was taking them straight towards an old stone wall. Gray snarled as he slammed his hands together to create a sharp turn in the slide ahead, but it was too sharp. As the three of them whooshed around the curve they all lost their footing and were thrown clear, tumbling into undignified heaps in the grass. The Clippers cawed in triumph as they descended down on them like a great feathered cloud.

Juvia was first to her feet and she lifted her hands to cry, "WATER DOME!" Abruptly a like half-sphere of water splashed into existence to form a large dome swirling liquid around the three Mages like a physical wall between them and the birds. The Clippers veered away from the attack slightly, confused at this sudden blockade and Juvia quickly began to shoot plumes of water out in all directions from it, dousing feathers and sending them squawking away, shaking their heads.

"Nice, Juvia!" Gray complimented her, and Juvia beamed happily and almost squealed in delight at the praise but she was able to force herself to concentrate on keeping the birds at bay.

"Yeah, but if you keep attacking like that, they'll never leave us alone," Lisanna called. "We need to get them to lose their interest in us."

"Guess we'll have to wait it out a while," Gray prepared more of his magic to freeze the dome, but right before he could there was a yell from outside the dome. It seemed, once again, they'd forgotten the Jarvey and now he'd been caught in the beak of one of the Clippers, which was flapping its broad wings hard to take it up into the air and away - the Jarvey screaming abuse at it as it squirmed helplessly away.

"No!" Lisanna cried and suddenly switched form, taking the shape of a green-and-pink-feathered swan-like bird. "Gray, seal yourselves in!" she cried as she spread her wings.

"What!? But… Lisanna…"

"Don't worry about me! I'll be fine!" Lisanna insisted as she powered herself into the air, plunging straight through the Water Dome and out amongst the swarm of Clippers, shoving a couple of them aside with her wings as she climbed towards the one that had the Jarvey. Several of the birds were quick to notice there was a stranger in their midst and swung around to pursue her, but most of them descended further down towards the Dome - they'd seen it was possible to get through and were now more determined than ever.

"Damn it!" Gray growled before her raised his hands and froze the Dome around himself and Juvia, creating a thick, solid barrier that the Clippers fell upon, scratching and pecking with talon and beak like frenzied vultures at a carcass, trying to break through.

"Gray-sama, what about Lisanna-san?" Juvia asked with wide eyes, fighting the urge to cover her ears at the cawing and scratching sounds coming from all around them - they could see the shadows of the Clippers through the ice and they could tell they were now completely surrounded, the birds trying to find a way in at all angles.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Gray gritted his teeth. "She knows animals better than any one of us. She'll… she'll be okay."

Juvia bit her lip and looked up, unconsciously moving closer to Gray and peering at the ice walls as if hoping to somehow see what was happening to Lisanna through them. But of course she only saw the shadows of the birds and their relentless pounding on the shield.

"Juvia hopes so," she murmured.

* * *

It took close to half an hour before the last of the Clippers lost interest in attacking the dome and finally left, leaving the area around the dome mercifully quiet at last. But Juvia and Gray still sat there inside for quite a while longer, possibly another half an hour though they weren't really keeping track of time. They were both listening intently, silently wondering whether the Clippers really had gone or whether they were close by, waiting for them to try and break cover.

Eventually though, Gray decided he'd had enough. "Come on, let's get out of here," he grumbled, placing his hand on the wall of the dome and re-moulding it slightly, to create a doorway while leaving the rest of it intact. Juvia momentarily reflected that it was like she and Gray had been sitting together in a giant igloo before quickly following him outside.

The skies were mercifully clear. There was no sign of any Clippers. And there was no sign of Lisanna.

But even as Gray stepped around the igloo-dome to have a look at the other side, he froze. There were one Clipper left in the area, perched in the branches of a large, single oak tree that stood alone in the open field. Gray stood rooted to the spot for several seconds, wondering if it'd start attacking again if he moved too quickly, and if it did, would the commotion bring the entire flock back down on their heads from somewhere close by?

But the Ice Mage was suddenly startled when the Clipper said, in Lisanna's voice, "It's alright. The rest of them are long gone. Probably gone off to look for roosts or something."

"Lisanna?" Gray blinked. "You… ah… I see…"

The Clipper giggled slightly before flapping down from the tree and landing on the grass, its body glowing briefly and suddenly Lisanna was standing there in front of them again. "Best way to avoid getting attacked by Clippers is to be a Clipper yourself, so I thought I'd try getting myself a new Take-Over. And it seemed to work."

"Oh, Lisanna-san. Juvia's so glad you're okay. She was so worried," Juvia hurried forwards and embraced the youngest Strauss sibling, who smiled and hugged her back.

"Yeah, but still that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my entire life," the Jarvey stated as it popped out of an old rabbit burrow that Lisanna had helped it hide down during the attack. "The hell were you thinking, charging out there trying to save me like that?"

"Hey, you might want to show a little gratitude!" Gray glared at the ferret-like creature, having to strongly resist the urge to kick it. "If it wasn't for Lisanna, you'd be bird chow by now. Bird crap in the morning."

"Well of course I would be, dumbass. You think my skull's as thick as yours? It's nice to be alive but that doesn't change the fact that was a stupid decision."

"Boy, I bet you don't have many friends," Gray muttered.

"Friends? If you must know, I do have a friend, but he's the most antisocial moron I've ever seen in my…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, what exactly happened, Lisanna? Did you invade the body of one of the birds and absorb its power into your soul or something?"

"What? Oh gods no - I would never do something like that to an innocent animal!" Lisanna looked repulsed and shook her head firmly. "Though I could if I wanted. Elf-niichan used that form of Take Over against the Beast back when…" she grimaced and stopped before she could go any further but both Juvia and Gray knew what she was talking about.

But Lisanna just shook her head and carried on, "But that's an extreme case. Using Take Over to change yourself just means you can essentially copy the body and abilities of whatever you're using it on and take its power into yourself. And that's what I did to one of the Clippers. I locked talons with it in my other bird form and focused on it as we fell through the air, imagining that I had not just the body but the soul of the Clipper and that's what allowed me to become one. I can tell you it looked very surprised when it suddenly found itself facing another one of its own kind instead and it let go of my very quickly."

"So its the same as Transformation Magic?" Juvia asked.

"Nah, not really. Transformation magic only alters the body. Take Over alters your very soul, changing everything about you except you mind if you do it right. If you used Transformation to become an animal you'd just be a human with an animal shape, but with Take Over you gain all the animals instincts, its senses, its abilities, everything like that. You become an animal, or a beast or a demon in the case of my brother and sister, with a human mind."

"I think I get it," Gray nodded. "So, if you were to use Transformation Magic to become a dog, you wouldn't gain a dog's sense of smell with it, but if you became a dog with Take Over, you would."

"Exactly," nodded Lisanna. "And of course I can take command of animals and tell them what to do, but not many at a time. I never tried to expand that part because I am essentially forcing animals to do my bidding but based on what happened today I think I might try and develop it more. At least for situations like that."

"Juvia agrees it could be useful, but Take Over certainly sounds more interesting that Juvia initially realised."

"Got that right," Gray chuckled, before his face turned sour and he looked out across the woods beyond. "Still, now that that whole Clipper business is over and done with you realise we're essentially back to square one. We have no idea where we are, where are friends are, or how to find them, and ferret-face down there's not going to be of any help anymore."

"Ferret-face?" the Jarvey laughed. "Oh my gosh, I'm so insulted. Your words have shocked me to the core. How dare you imply my face looks like a freaking ferret when it looks like a freaking ferret. I'm just glad you didn't call me a stoat, Badger-breath, because then I'd have cried for sure."

Gray was now trying very hard to keep his eye from twitching, slowly grinding out, "Anyone got any ideas?"

"I had a little fly around to scout out the area when I was a Clipper," Lisanna replied. "There's not very much but trees and fields for quite a few miles around and I didn't see any signs of more people, let alone more of those golden Sphere things that we were apparently inside. Then I came back to wait for you two to come out. You were in there quite a long time."

"Probably making out," the Jarvey snickered.

"That's it!" Gray muttered as Juvia covered her face in her hands, her face so red there was practically steam coming off it. A moment later and the Jarvey was totally frozen in a block of ice about twice as big as it was, with Gray dusting his hands off and looking rather smug.

"Did you have to do that?" Lisanna frowned disapprovingly.

"I'll defrost him before we go," Gray muttered. "Just couldn't stand anymore of his talking."

"G-G-Gray-sama… and Juvia… making out?" the Water Mage whimpered slightly, holding her hands together and staring into the middle distance, obviously becoming lost in fantasy. Gray grimaced and fought the urge to facepalm, while Lisanna tapped Juvia pointedly on the shoulder to wake her up before it got any more awkward. Juvia coughed and looked down, embarrassed, but quickly changed the subject before going, "Well… maybe we should try and see if there are any towns nearby."

"There doesn't appear to be much more we can do but pick a direction and go in it. And hope that we're still in Fiore," Lisanna murmured.

"Why would you think we might not be?" Gray asked. "That big weasel told us we were still on Earthland."

"Earthland's got more than one country in it," Lisanna pointed out. "And I've looked through lots of books about the wildlife you can find in Fiore. And never once have I read anything about an animal called a Jarvey."

Gray and Juvia digested this news in silence for several moments before Gray sighed and murmured, "Well this just keeps getting better and better. Guess we've got no choice but to pick a direction and hope for the best."

"Juvia agrees. Lisanna-san, do you think you can carry us? We would cover more ground from the air than we would on foot."

"I don't know," Lisanna chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Birds aren't really built for carrying passengers. I think maybe as a Clipper I could carry one of you on my back but I don't know about the both of you."

"Oh, Juvia doesn't think that should be much of a problem," Juvia smiled. "If Juvia turns most of her body into water then she will be much lighter. Does Lisanna-san think she can carry us both then?"

"I suppose," Lisanna nodded. "I guess the only way to find out is to try it." Her body glowed as she switched form into that of a Clipper once again, stretching her wings and turning awkwardly on the spot, lowering herself down to the ground as if she was sitting on a nest. "Climb aboard then."

Gray hesitantly clambered aboard until he was sitting on Lisanna's feathered shoulders. Clippers were large for birds but they were still only slightly bigger than a man so there wasn't much room left for Juvia. She was forced to crouch on her knees right behind Gray on Lisanna's back and as soon as Lisanna tried standing up she almost fell off, prompting her to seize Gray and wrap her arms around him to keep herself in place - an action which made her blush slightly when she realised she'd done it without asking.

"U-um… Gray-sama…?" she asked questioningly.

"Just hang on tight," Gray replied curtly. Juvia grinned and promptly leaned herself further against him, trying to hide a sigh of contentment as she held the man she loved, her head resting between his shoulders. Gray stiffened visibly at this (particularly since he could feel Juvia's chest pressed against his back) but refused to make any comment, negative or otherwise.

"Well, I think I can manage," Lisanna announced, "Though it might take some getting used to."

"Then whenever you're ready," Gray nodded.

"Hold on, Gray. You should unfreeze the Jarvey before we go."

Gray groaned slightly but passed his hand through the air, causing the ice encasing the big ferret creature to vanish into thin air. The Jarvey looked around sharply and yelling, "What? What? How did… what just…" before scowling up at Gray and saying. "Oh, what did you just do to me Strip King?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Gray grunted. "We'll be going now."

"Thanks for all your help," Lisanna said cheerfully through her bird beak and kicked off from the ground. It took a couple of skittering jumps before she managed to get into the air, but as she flapped off over the tree line she added, "Though Gray, now that he mentions it I feel I have to ask, please can you try and keep your pants on while you're on my back."

"Ghh…" Gray coughed before murmuring, "I'll do my best."

"Juvia wouldn't mind," the Water Mage whispered quietly, but thankfully her words were carried off with the wind before either of the others heard her say it.

And from the ground, the Jarvey watched them go, wrinkling his little button nose distastefully. "Jeez, what a bunch of weirdos. Ain't never seen magic like that before. Not even from the Big Em. Still… I bet he's gonna be very interested in this lot, so he is, so he is."

* * *

Harry wondered if the scowl on his face had been there since breakfast, or whether his expression had becoming increasingly more thunderous since then. He hadn't expected the day to start well and he was right. Hermione had been perusing the Daily Prophet that morning to find any sign of what Sirius had mentioned last night and she had indeed found an article about the dragon attack in the Hebrides, which Ron had been eager to read since Charlie was in it.

The second eldest Weasley brother seemed to have been brusque with the reporters, stating that there was no evidence to suggest anything other than a simple clash over territory, albeit a slightly more vicious one than usual where they'd both scored lucky hits on the other, but that they were going to continue investigating anyway.

There had been no mention of the attack on the Muggle Bank at Portree though. Hermione guessed that the Ministry were trying to cover that one up until they knew what exactly they were dealing with.

But it was the news on the front page, which Percy had hinted about in his letter to Ron the previous day, that had really soured his mood - the appointment of Umbridge to becoming the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, giving her the power to inspect the rest of the staff. Under normal circumstances, that might seem to actually be a rather fair thing to do - it was important that the teachers were doing their jobs properly after all. But they now knew the Ministry was only doing this in an attempt to interfere and gain a foothold at the school, all solely as part of their plan to discredit Dumbledore and hopefully unseat him, all because Fudge was becoming convinced Dumbledore wanted power for himself. This had nothing to do with standards of education, only the Ministry's paranoia.

He could only hope that the toad-faced bitch hadn't seen his furious death glare across the Great Hall that morning.

And of course any morning he had to sit through a Potions lesson could not be considered a good one, especially when he learned afterwards that the D that Snape had given him for his homework stood for 'Dreadful' and was the second lowest mark he could have gotten - the equivalent of an E at Muggle schools.

And he'd never thought he'd ever feel sorry for Professor Trelawney considering she predicted his violent death in every single lesson, but after watching the agony of her inspection from Umbridge just now he'd found sympathy even for her, right up until the point where Trelawney had taken out her anger on him with a more graphic description of his death than usual.

But still, his loathing for Umbridge seemed to be increasing by the minute.

"I hate her," he growled under his breath. "I hate that frog-mouthed, evil spawn of… Satan. I hate her."

"Jeez, mate, you might want to dial back the rage before we actually get to her class," Ron patted him on the back slightly. "You're not the only one. I don't think there's a single Gryffindor that likes her. And judging by what I've been hearing from the other houses, she doesn't have many fans in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw either."

"Who the hell does she think she is though?" Harry clenched his fist. "The way she waddles around the place with that smug face… its like she thinks she's the Headmistress already. Or the Queen of England or the damn world or something."

"Dear God that's an image I could do without," Ron shuddered. "Her sitting on some kind of throne, waving that stubby hand of hers around as people look upon her magnificence and throw up in droves."

Harry snorted in amusement at that last part but his anger still broiled unbidden within him. "You know what I think? I think someone should inspect her lessons. I bet if they did, then they'd find a reason to throw her out pretty quickly considering she's not actually teaching us anything."

"We wish. She's got the Ministry behind her. They won't send anyone who'd do that."

"I honestly don't think that there's been a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher I hated more. And that includes Lockhart."

"Me too, but there's not much we can do but hope she has some kind of accident that gets her carted off to St. Mungos is there? Until then, she's here to stay, I think."

"Oh, I wouldn't count your Plimpies before they hatch," said a dreamy voice from behind them, and both Harry and Ron turned around to see Luna Lovegood was there, practically gliding along through the corridor along with all the other students and giving them a vague smile. "I think its entirely possible that that woman's days in the school are numbered."

"Huh?" Harry asked. "What makes you say that?"

"Just a feeling I have," Luna said, staring a little past them as if remembering something. "I just think that when that woman does get ejected from the school, it will be quite a windstorm. Not unlike that one that occurred at the Quidditch Pitch yesterday."

"Were you there?" Ron asked, a grin spreading across his face. "Did you see the Slytherin team get knocked about?"

"Yes, and it was quite fascinating," Luna nodded simply. "And I can't help but wonder if that windstorm might return to help liberate us all from her tyranny. Or maybe one of its friends."

"One of its friends?" Ron frowned. "Windstorms aren't living things, you know."

"Aren't they?" Luna smiled enigmatically before she breezed between the two and they watched her skipping off, her peculiar radish-like earrings bouncing around erratically as she went.

"…I know calling her things like Loony Lovegood is horrible and all but… she is a pretty odd one," Harry blinked as he watched her go.

"Not entirely sure she has all of her eggs in one basket," Ron shook his head. How can a windstorm have friends? That doesn't even make sense on any level."

Harry had to agree, but Luna had seemed quite sure of what she was saying, though her meaning was totally unclear. He wondered if he would ever actually figure Luna out. She wasn't exactly a prominent person in his life since he'd only spoken to her on three separate occasions, though all of them had been since the train journey here this year. And every time she seemed to leave him feeling flummoxed and unsure what just happened.

But he was grateful she wasn't shunning him like a large portion of the rest of the school were. But it was difficult to know if she believed his tale about Voldemort because of what he's said or whether she believed it because it sounded like an interesting idea.

"Still," Ron added as they continued walking. "The image of Umbridge being scooped up in a gale and getting blown away… that is an appealing one. Hey, have you ever considered trying to do that thing you did to your Aunt where you inflated her without using a wand and she floated off like a big balloon?"

Harry burst out laughing so hard he doubled over and had to find a place to sit briefly so he could laugh it off, which caused a great deal of people to stop and stare at him as if he'd lost it, but since many of them probably thought he had already he didn't care.

"Now I really… really wish I knew what I'd done that day," Harry wiped his eyes beneath his glasses slightly.

"You'd get a standing ovation for it if you could pull it off, I reckon," Ron grinned as he helped Harry up. "Come on, though. I don't think you want to find out what she'll do to you if you're late for her classes."

Realising this was a rather valid point, Harry hurried off with Ron behind him. They met Hermione, who had been at Arithmancy, right before they entered the room where Umbridge was waiting for them, humming sickeningly. And then of course the lesson began and, during the course of it, Harry managed to lose his temper and landed himself in a week's worth of detentions. Again.

* * *

It was not long before Lisanna and her two passengers managed to find a settlement.

Unfortunately, it was not a pleasant sight that greeted them.

"Oh no!" Lisanna gasped, catching the attention of the other two. "Look up ahead!"

Gray and Juvia both gasped when they saw the buildings they were approaching. Or, to be more precise, they noted what was on and around the buildings. It seemed like they had found the Clippers again. And the Clippers had evidently decided that the rooftops of all the houses would make the best roosting site.

Which was extremely bad news for the people who lived there. Screams were ripping through the air as people cowered in their parked or crashed vehicles, ducking behind the cover of benches and signposts or made wild dashes for doors, shielding their heads against the onslaught of the aggressive avians. And the streets were not only filled with humans trying to find shelter but also cows, horses, donkeys and dogs. The birds were indiscriminate in their targets, whirling around to dive-bomb and human and aim pecks and slashes at their heads before lifting off and aiming themselves at a cow instead.

And they were showing no signs of stopping.

"Looks like we should have dealt with those birds when we had the chance," Gray growled, watching one of them throw itself off a roof and forcing a mother to grab her child and dive behind a bench to avoid a snapping beak. "All we did was give them a chance to find this place."

"They're attacking everything in sight!" Juvia agreed.

"They're not being malicious though," Lisanna insisted. "I can sense the Clippers' instincts within me. It's driving them to attack in order to protect themselves from potential threats and competition."

"Even so, we've got no choice now," Gray insisted as they winged closer. "We've got to protect those people!"

"But we can't kill them! They're innocent creatures!" Lisanna protected.

"We won't kill them," Juvia agreed. "But Gray-sama is right. We have to do something."

Lisanna groaned but nodded her head. "I guess you're right. Just try not to hurt them too badly if you can. Hang on, guys!" And she swept her wings with all the power she could muster and shot in towards the town like an arrow fired from a bow, Juvia and Gray clinging on for dear life. Lisanna's eyes locked on a Clipper that was diving down towards a lone child that had panicked and run out into the open, crashing into it head-on and seizing it by the wing to pull it off course, spinning around to send it hurtling down into the street in a heap of feathers. The impact knocked Gray and Juvia loose but they were able to flip safely back onto their feet as Lisanna morphed back into human shape and landed near them.

"We should split up," Gray took charge. "Try and cover all the area we can between us."

"Try not to destroy any buildings!" Juvia agreed as she turned to water and blitzed down the road, weaving through the air on her personal water jet towards another Clipper that was trying to beat its way through the windshield of a parked car to get at the terrified people within. The Clipper squawked as Juvia rammed it with her watery shoulder and sent it rolling across the street. Juvia stood upon the hood of the car and called into the startled family. "Get out of here! Juvia will handle this!"

The rain woman looked up with gritted teeth as three more Clippers hissed in her direction, leaping into the air and sweeping down into the street towards her. Juvia leapt off the car and spun around in the air, generating a current of water that blasted all three of them upwards and away, cawing in disgust at their soaking feathers. Two more were snapping at each two people cowering behind a bench on the pavement, but Juvia held up her hands and cried, "WATER LOCK!" forming a sphere of water around them which reduced them to frenziedly beating their wings and spewing bubbles in an attempt to escape.

A loud screech caused Juvia to whirl around in time to see another Clipper descend on her with beak agape but she merely stood there and let the giant bird bite down on her head. The beak passed straight through it, splashing a fair amount of water across the pavement and causing screams from onlookers as it seemed like Juvia's head had been bitten in half… but then stunned silence ensued as Juvia's water body reformed itself until it looked as though she'd never been struck at all.

"Drip, drip, drop," Juvia smiled, uttering a phrase she had not used for quite a long time before she suddenly spotted what looked like a large ford across the road ahead of her. The Water Mage smiled as she dashed towards it and raised her hands up into the air. The ford rose up with them, geysering into the air and several jets peeling away to blast at the squawking, angry birds and push them back anytime any within Juvia's sight made to dive towards the street.

A couple of streets away, Lisanna was having to fight a little more hand to claw. As she ran along, she initially relied solely on her Take Over's effect on the birds, taking control of their bodies and making them cease their attack and fly off, but she quickly came upon a knot of them that she knew she couldn't control at once. And several of these birds had managed to back a group of cows up against a wall. A brave bull had stepped up to defend the females and was swinging his horns at the attackers, but with so many coming from all sides and scratching at him, he was quickly being overwhelmed.

Lisanna glared - no matter what she couldn't watch innocent animals suffer. Leaping over the top of a car she morphed her arms into wings and whooshed down the street, ignoring the cries of shock from the onlookers before she switched again into her giant purple rabbit form in mid-air, colliding with several of the and sending them flying away with a full body slam to fall in feathered heaps in the street. Two more swerved out of the way and converged on her, only for her to kick backwards with her big bunny feet and bullseye them both in the chest, sending them flopping to the ground with the wind knocked out of them.

Quickly reverting back to human form she used her magic to calm the nervous bull and send him and the cows on their way, running for cover. But screams alerted her to more Clippers dive-bombing three men who looked like they'd been drinking but were now heavily sober, lying in the middle of the street with their arms over their faces, trying to defend themselves from slashing beaks and claws. Lisanna ran to help, noticing a couple of horses nearby and taking control of them. The horses immediately charged the birds and leapt over the stunned men, smashing the birds aside and rearing up on their hind legs to beat at the startled birds.

Lisanna dashed over and commanded the birds to fly away, before helping the men to their feet and crying, "Get on the horses and get out of here! Go now!" The men didn't need telling twice and the suddenly calm horses allowed them on before galloping off down the road. But Lisanna's attention was taken again by another piercing scream and she saw one Clipper had managed to grab a young girl, possibly around Wendy's age, and haul her into the air. Lisanna shifted into her Cat form and dashed over on all fours, scooting up the trunk of a tree to land on the back of the Clipper, scrambling over to slash at its shoulders with her claws.

The Clipper screeched and dropped the girl, and Lisanna vaulted off its back the moment it did to seize the girl in her arms in mid-air and land smoothly on her feet, tail poised. She hurried over to the nearest door and ushered the girl through it quickly before she could get nabbed again.

And a short distance away, Gray was in the thick of things, crouched behind a shield of Ice that he'd made as he helped an elderly man with a slightly bloodied leg to his feet and allowed him to hobble over to the door of a house, which Gray kicked in - not caring who the house belonged to - and helped the man inside. "Stay here," he said as the man slumped down the wall, before placing his hands on his leg and applying a thin layer of frost to it. "Sorry that's cold but it'll help to staunch the bleeding," he promised before he ran back out the door again in time to see two women running with handbags over their heads as four Clippers swarmed behind them tearing at the bags.

"ICE MAKE: LANCE!" Gray cried and fired off a volley of long icy spears from his hands that sliced through the air right between the women and the Clippers, forcing the birds to pull up with angry screeches. Gray thundered over, dodging a lamppost and roaring, "ICE MAKE: PRISON!" Instantly a large cage formed around the four birds and dropped to the floor, taking them down with it and trapping them inside, screeching as they attempted to savage the icy bars without success, allowing Gray to leave them to it.

"HELP! HEEELP!" a voice drew his attention up into the air and he blanched when he saw a man clinging to the steeple of a church while a Clipper tried to pull him away by his coat. How he'd got up there but Gray acted quickly and bellowed, "ICE MAKE: CATAPULT!" Instantly a solid ice catapult was formed in the street with himself standing in the sling and a moment later it fired, flinging him upwards through the air towards the top of the church. Forming ice around his fist he punched the bird with it and knocked it for a loop, seizing the man in about the same moment and pulling him free of the steeple. The two of them fell until Gray created an icy slide for them that extended across the street instead of ending abruptly once it reached the ground, allowing them to slip right to the doors of a convenience store, which the man promptly ran into.

"No need for thanks," Gray muttered before he turned around to see another three Clippers flying around what appeared to be a children's playground. Several kids were screaming as they crouched under the climbing apparatus as the Clippers tried to get at them while distressed mothers tried to run to the rescue only to be driven back by more birds diving out of the sky. Gray hurried to assist and leapt over the fence into the playground, yelling, "ICE MAKE: KNUCKLE!" and generating several fists of ice out of the ground which pounded into the birds and knocked them up and away.

"Get out of here, kids!" Gray yelled, and the children quickly obeyed, running to their mothers, except for one little boy that remained rooted to the spot in fear. Gray cursed as he saw more birds coming in for another pass so he ran forward and seized the child in his arms, running with him towards the others, when suddenly a Clipper swept out of nowhere and made a lunge for them both. Gray immediately twisted his body to put it between the bird and the child, yelling as the bird's talons ripped long gouges in his back. But he whirled around with gritted teeth and pummelled the bird aside with a blast of ice before running on anyway and delivering the boy into the arms of his crying mother.

"Thank you! Thank you!" the mother cried, holding the child close, but staring at Gray as if he was some alien life-form, which was quite understandable considering what she'd just seen Gray do. "Who… who are you?"

Gray grunted as he formed a layer of ice over his back to cover his wound before grinning and pounding the mark on his chest.

"We're Fairy Tail."

But the sounds of more birds screeching, plumes of water shooting out over the rooftops nearby and mewling yowls that were probably Lisanna all reminded Gray that the fight was not over yet. So he leapt over the fence again and back into the fray.

* * *

For Tonks, her day went from a dull snail's pace to a sudden helter-skelter of activity in practically half a minute flat. So much so, that she was left a little reeling and her brain had to catch up with the rest of her as she Disapparated with the same old familiar loud crack.

She'd had a pretty much sleepless night before, the aftermath of the attack in Portree resulting in a lot of paperwork and debriefings for all of the Aurors present, as well as a long lecture from Scrimgeour about how they needed to keep an eye out for the guy they'd seen on the screens, during which all Tonks could think about was how if Mad-Eye Moody was here, all he'd needed to do is bark, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" at the amassed Aurors and they'd all get the same message that Scrimgeour was trying to give them with just that.

And then of course it had been her turn to patrol Diagon Alley for a while. All Aurors had to take their turn doing this twice a week just to make sure that nobody started anything in the middle of such a crowded area. Yet, as usual, nothing happened.

Tonks was so proud to be an Auror and was the most recently graduated of the entire force… but boy did her job get boring sometimes.

And then, just as she had been about ready to head home for what she hoped would be a very long and relaxing bath, a silvery Patronus Charm in the shape of a bear came charging through the halls, roaring in Scrimgeour's voice - "All available Aurors report to the briefing room immediately!" - over and over again. Tonks almost tripped over her feet as she rushed to obey the emergency order, but was able to catch herself against a wall and hurry off.

"What's happening?" she called to fellow Auror, Savage, as he ran ahead of her.

"No clue!" Savage called back, and the two of them, along with many other Aurors, hurried into the briefing room, where Scrimgeour was waiting for them with a grim face.

"Listen up!" he announced even as more Aurors were dashing into the room. "I don't have time to explain in detail but we've received an emergency call from a wizard who lives in Brockenhurst down in New Forest in Hampshire. He claims that the town is under attack from a flock of giant birds he doesn't recognise. We're heading out with the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to help subdue this threat. Be prepared for a vicious attack from the air, but try not to kill any of the birds. But this is a Muggle residence so I need a perimeter set around the town - no Muggle must be allowed to leave until we have modified their memory. Now, let's head out."

That was the way it was in emergency situations. Minimal explanation - an Auror had to adapt quickly to the circumstances since dilly-dallying could result in the loss of innocent lives. Though Tonks had a million and one questions she would have liked to ask, like where these birds might have come from, she had no time to ask them and knew that Scrimgeour probably didn't know the answer anyway.

So, instead, Tonks merely thought the word 'Brockenhurst' clearly in her head since she'd never been there and suddenly she was there in the streets with more Aurors popping into existence in various places around her. Almost immediately she was deafened by the loud cawing and ducked as a shadow fell across her - two large green birds swooping low between the buildings, chasing a terrified dog.

With no time to gawp, Tonks' wand was in her hand in a flash and dashed out into the street, firing a round of quick Stunning Spells up at the birds. She was joined by other Aurors from nearby and one of the two crumpled to the ground with a crash, hit by multiple spells at once, while the other lost the use of its wing and spiralled down slightly, landing on its feet and turning to hiss at the nearest Auror, which happened to be Tonks herself, dashing towards her on slightly ungainly feet. Tonks rolled to the side and fired another Stunner up at the bird in mid-roll, hitting it square in the beak with a ragged squawk before keeling over to fall unconscious onto its front.

Tonks pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the amazed faces of Muggles peering through the windows and hurrying off into the town, aware of more birds wheeling overhead and searching for prospective targets. Other Aurors nearby Disapparated in order to go and form the perimeter but Tonks carried on with what she was doing, seeing another bird swooping low nearby and flinging an Incarcerous spell at it, dodging the bird's fall as it was tangled up in the ropes from the spell and fell to the street in a thrashing heap. Tonks left it there and hurried down another street, spotting more Aurors firing more spells at the birds and adding a few of her own to the mix, pretty sure she managed to take out another one.

_The hell is going on here anyway,_ she thought to herself as she rolled out into the next street and fired an Impediment Jinx at another, freezing it in mid-air and allowing several others to Stun it so that when it unfroze it dropped like a stone.

Tonks then saw another bird nearby which was attempting to get in through the automatic door of a convenience store. It had its head and part of its torso through and was trying to push the door open with wider with one foot, snapping at people inside who were beating at it frantically with whatever they could while one man kept his hand down on the emergency close button for the door. So the Metamorphmagus did the only thing she could - Apparated right into the midst of the crowd inside and firing a Reductor Curse at the bird. It quite literally didn't know what hit it as it was blown backwards out of the door, rolling beak over tail until it collided with a parked car.

Tonks ignored the stunned looks on the faces of the Muggles as she slipped through the door to Stun the bird. She was getting used to it. This wasn't the first time that Muggles had seen her performing magic, and while she found their awe rather amusing now was really not the time for that.

But, it was right then, that Tonks spotted something that made herself pull up short and stare with awe.

The first thing she saw was a girl with what appeared to be blue hair that was tightly curled at the base, running through the street with several of the green birds in pursuit. But even as Tonks moved to help, the girl's body suddenly changed and liquified, turning to water while still retaining its form right before Tonks' eyes. Tonks openly gaped as the girl fired herself into the air on a jet of water from her feet, weaving down the street as the birds clattered after her, two of them colliding with each other head-on and dropping like stones.

But the girl then whirled around on a tight one-eighty in the air and created two large whips of water in her hands. She spun around to knock two of the birds askew with them before lashing another around a third bird's feet and hauling it into the side of a building. Another bird swept in at her but her form suddenly melted away and she split into two plumes of water that whooshed around either side of the bird before reuniting on the other side, solidifying into her human form again. She fired a blast of water from her palms at the bird, catching into into the back and sending it crashing into the street while the girl landed squarely on her feet.

And that was when Juvia Lockser and Nymphadora Tonks both locked eyes for the first time. Juvia, thinking Tonks was just another bystander, waved her arm frantically and yelled, "Take cover, Miss! Juvia will handle the birds!"

"Who are…?" Tonks started to ask but several of the birds Juvia had knocked aside before had gotten back up and were hissing like angry snakes, charging in towards both the women as they lifted themselves into the air once more. Juvia whirled around to face them and brought her arms up, channelling her magic as several drain grates along the side of the road burst upwards with great plumes of water from the pipes below that washed in on the birds and swamped them, crashing them together in a sodden heap.

"Ugh…" Juvia grimaced. "Juvia doesn't know if she wants to control that water again."

Abruptly a loud honking made both Juvia and Tonks turn around to see a car screeching around the corner, beset by two more birds - evidently someone who had just got here to a rather unwelcome sight. Juvia was already in motion as the car swerved wildly, shouting, "SIERRA!" and blasting herself as a burst of high pressure water to smash both the birds backwards but as she landed she saw the driver of the car had seemingly lost control and was swerving so wildly he was about to crash into the side of a building.

Juvia gasped and frantically searched her brain for something to stop the car but Tonks ran in and yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!" pointing her wand at the car. The entire vehicle suddenly froze in mid-swerve, both its right wheels off the ground as if it was about to tip over. Tonks barrelled in and yanked the car door open, hauling the also frozen man right out of it and pulling him away before suddenly the car unfroze and smashed into a wall with a crumpling of metal.

Juvia's face lit up slightly. "You can use magic," she noted. "Was that some kind of time related magic perhaps? A holder type maybe, if you have to use that stick for it?"

Tonks deposited the dazed man on the side of the road and turned around to point her wand at Juvia, striding slowly towards her. "Holder type? I don't know what you're talking about, girl, but I'm going to have to ask you not to move, or by my authority as an Auror of the Ministry of Magic I will have to place you under arrest."

"Under arrest?" Juvia blanched. "Ministry of Magic? But… Juvia hasn't done anything wrong…"

"Please make it easier on both of us and just answer my questions," Tonks replied shortly. "And I've got many, but here are some of the big ones. Who are you? What the hell kind of magic was that you were using? And what have you got to do with these birds? And…"

It was right at that point where Tonks spotted something else about this girl. Her clothes were torn and her legs and arms were covered in bandages, but on her left leg some of those bandages had been torn away. And Tonks had just noticed a blue mark on her skin there, in a very distinctive shape. It took a moment, but her eyes widened when she realised she'd seen that mark before - on the golden sphere they'd found in Nottinghamshire the other day.

"And… what… is that symbol?"


	8. Lost Together

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 8:- Lost Together**

* * *

"What is that symbol?" Tonks repeated as she stepped closer to Juvia warily, her wand outstretched and pointing directly at Juvia's chest. "That symbol on your leg, I've seen it before. Tell me what it is. And who you are. Come on, girl, answer my questions."

Juvia opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, really not sure what to make of this situation - the woman was threatening to arrest her? For what, protecting these people? Did she think that the bird attack was her fault perhaps? But that made no sense - she'd just seen her attacking the birds herself so that couldn't be it surely.

Whatever the case though, this woman seemed like an official so Juvia figured it would be best to just tell the truth and hope that went down well.

"It's… it's the mark of the mage guild known as Fairy Tail," Juvia drew herself up a little, glowing with pride at being part of such a place. "It's considered by most to be the most powerful guild in all of Fiore. Haven't you heard of it?"

"What have fairy tales got to do with any of this?" Tonk frowned in bewilderment. "Aren't fairy tales a Muggle concept? Everyone wizard and witch knows fairies are real."

"They are?" Juvia blinked. "Juvia thought nobody knew for sure whether they existed or not."

"You're just trying to mess with my now, aren't you?" Tonks took another step forward, much more sure footed than she would be under casual circumstances. "Where did you say you were from?"

"Juvia lives in the city of Magnolia, in the country of Fiore," the Water Mage explained quickly.

"Never heard of either one of them," Tonks replied. "Either you're from really far out of town or you're making things up as you go along. I think I might just have to take you in so we can find out the truth about you."

"Take Juvia in!" Juvia took a step backwards. "But wait… surely this is not the time for that. Juvia thinks we should be working together to defend this town from the Clippers."

"Clippers? Are those the name of the birds? Do you have something to do with them?!" Tonks became instantly more alert and narrowed her eyes, a fact which made Juvia curse internally - now she really found her suspicious.

But before the situation could get any uglier they were very promptly reminded of the situation at hand. All throughout their exchange the sounds of cawing and flashes of light from other streets signified the battle was still going on and a harsh squawking drew the attention of both the women to where three Clippers were rounding a corner in pursuit a donkey, which was braying madly as it pounded down the street to try and get away from them. Tonks faltered slightly but she vaguely remembered that Brockenhurst was well known for having no fences letting animals wander through its streets.

But Juvia leapt straight into motion and hurtled down the street to help the poor donkey out. "HEY!" Tonks yelled after her and automatically threw a Stunning spell at her, but Juvia's body was already liquefying and although the spell hit her dead on it just past straight through her and hit a wall behind her instead. Tonks could only ogle in disbelief at this sight as Juvia blasted water from the bottom of her feet to shoot herself into the air, sailing straight at the oncoming Clippers.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she cried, and whipped her body round in circles to become something like an airborne whirlpool that spread out, swept over the donkey's head and engulfed the three Clippers, which gurgled bubbles and flapped their wings uselessly, tumbling over and over in the currents generated by Juvia's body as she whooshed them down the street to deposit them in a sodden pile of feathers, reforming her body before them.

Despite the fact Tonks had already seen her do things like this, it made it no less gobsmacking this time. But her distraction cost her dearly, because when another Clipper suddenly descended on her from behind and seized her shoulders in its talons, she never had any warning.

"AAGH!" Tonks yelled as she was slammed down onto her front, her wand falling from her nerveless hand to clatter onto the tarmac. Even as she scrabbled to grab it though the Clipper surged back up into the air, heaving her up with it. Tonks kicked and screamed, struggling for all she was worth as her feet left the ground but the Clipper was physically stronger than her and bore her up and away.

"GET OFF OF ME YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR PILLOW STUFFINGS!" Tonks yelled as she thrashed wildly, but the Clipper just tightened its grip and lanced down slightly with its beak. Tonks yelped as the toothy bill snapped down just a few inches from her face. This was definitely not the best of positions to be in right now. She considered using her Metamorphmagus abilities to shrink her arms a little in the hope she would slip out of the bird's grip… but looking down she realised she was already quite a way up.

Which was the better option? A long fall or a bird's beak. Either one was going to hurt! A lot!

But a shout of, "STRANGER-SAN! HOLD ON!" drew her attention back down and she balked when she saw Juvia was now rocketing up towards her, her legs morphed into a watery blast that carried her upwards like a missile.

"WAIT! WHAT ARE…!?" Tonks started but Juvia twisted her body, reformed her legs in mid-air swept her arm out in front of her with a cry of:-

"HELP ME, LISANNA-SAN! WATER SLICER!"

She deliberately made the attack weaker than it could be as she didn't want to give the Clipper any permanent injuries, but she lashed out a single long blade of water that slashed up the gap between them and cut shallow gashed into the bird's legs, just above its knees. The Clipper screeched and let go of the struggling Auror, and Tonks screamed as she suddenly found herself plummeting towards the ground, tipping over so she was falling head-first, only able to watch as the tarmac seemed to rush up towards her face.

But just as she thought the jig could be up, she was suddenly seized by the ankles and yanked back up into the air again by what felt distinctly like another set of talons. Gasping at the sudden shock she looked up, expecting to see another Clipper… but she was stunned when she saw what was carrying her had the wings, tail and feet of a large bird, but the torso and head of a young-looking girl with short, white hair.

"Sorry about that!" the girl called down to her. "Hope I didn't give you whiplash!"

"What… who…" Tonks blustered as the girl-bird flapped her wings hard to lower Tonks to the ground, settling her down on top of a car. Tonks quickly scrambled down and stared as the girl landed next to her, the bird-like parts of her body shimmering slightly before they suddenly became human.

"Are you okay?" Lisanna asked, stepping forwards with concern evident in her voice.

"How… how did you do that?" Tonks choked out.

"Lisanna-san, good catch!" Juvia hurried over before Lisanna could answer. "Juvia hopes you're okay, Stranger-san. Here's your stick." And she held out her hand, with Tonks' wand firmly nestled in her palm. Tonks quickly snatched it gratefully, but then whirled around from one girl to another, blustering and trying to come up with something to say.

"Who… are you people?" was what she finally managed. "What kind of… magic…?"

She was suddenly interrupted yet again when a voice yelled, "JUVIA! LISANNA!" and Tonks whipped around to see a young man with short black hair and no shirt come darting around the corner of a T-junction up ahead. He spun around and raised his hands up into the air, bringing them crashing down onto the road he'd just run out of and yelling, "ICE-MAKE: FLOOR!"

And Tonks watched in astonishment as suddenly the entire cross-section of the T-junction was coated in an icy carpet and she watched as two men in Auror robes went sliding right past across it, totally out of control and falling onto their backsides to slip away down the street.

Gray turned and thundered towards them, dashing right past the three of them and yelling, "COME ON!" as he went. Juvia and Lisanna immediately followed him as he ducked into a side-street nearby, and after a moment of indecision Tonks followed them, holding her wand at the ready. She didn't have a clue who these people were, or what they were doing here and protocol dictated that she should try and apprehend them all - take them in for questioning.

But… she was not sure she wanted to.

After all, the two girls had just saved her life.

So instead, she followed them into the side street, watching as Gray leaned against a dank wall, panting slightly. "It's become a total madhouse out there," he growled. "The good news is I think that most of the Clippers have stopped attacking. But suddenly while I was fighting them off, all these guys in black robes just popped out of nowhere and started firing flashing lights at the birds."

"Local mages, I guess," Lisanna nodded.

"Yeah, but when I tried to help them out, they suddenly turned on me!" Gray growled angrily. "Started firing those funny lights of theirs at me. It was a good thing I'd already seen those lights knock one of the Clippers unconscious or I might not have reacted in time."

Juvia turned her head to look at Tonks. "Juvia thinks that they must be this place's version of the Rune Knights. Some kind of magical law enforcement. Would Juvia be correct in that assumption?"

Tonks coughed as suddenly Lisanna and Gray were looking at her to. "Um… yes, I suppose. We're Aurors, from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic. We came to help stop the bird attack when we received word of it but I don't think any of us were expecting to run into… anything like you."

"What do you mean, 'anything like us?'" Lisanna frowned. "We use magic, just like you."

"Believe me," Tonks snorted. "You do not use magic like us. I haven't seen you do a single thing that I can do with my magic."

"But everyone uses different kinds of magic," Lisanna looked no less bemused. "Juvia here can't turn into animals any more than I can control water."

The Water Mage in question coughed and said, "Juvia… is not so sure that Lisanna-san's words will make much sense to her. Juvia thinks Lisanna-san was right to suspect we were no longer in Fiore. This woman has never heard of it."

"Never heard of Fiore?" Gray looked up sharply. "Is that true?"

"Yes, it is," Tonks nodded firmly. "I've never heard of Fiore and I have never seen anyone do anything remotely like what you've been doing. Especially without even using a wand." She held up the piece of wood in her hand. "Virtually all magic in existence that I know of requires a wand. Yet none of you were using one. And… you all have that symbol…" she breathed, when she finally noticed the white mark on Lisanna's leg in the same place as Juvia's and the black one adorning Gray's chest.

Tonks stared at the three of them, as they stared right back, before the Auror lowered her wand slightly. "I've asked you before… but I'm going to ask you again… who are you people?"

"If you want, we'll explain everything to you, but first I want some answers of my own," Gray said as he folded his arms. "Those guys out there with the sticks and the flashy lights your friends are they? Why the heck did they attack me when I was trying to help them out?"

"Juvia wants to know that too," Juvia nodded fiercely. "Stranger-san herself threatened to try and arrest me when Juvia had done nothing wrong."

"Stranger-san?" Gray blinked.

"Look, they probably panicked, okay?" Tonks ran a hand through her hair. "These are strange times and when I saw what you were doing with that water magic of yours, the fact you were helping against the birds didn't really register to me next to the sheer… mind-blowing nature of what you were doing! Honestly I'm still half convinced that I've imagined this whole thing and haven't seen some girl turn herself to water and back or some guy freeze an entire road solid just by touching it or any of that."

"That doesn't really explain why we were attacked," Gray said impatiently.

"Like I said, these are strange times. And when I first saw you guys the first thing that you're wielding a powerful and totally unknown type of magic and that make you all potentially dangerous individuals. And we're Aurors. It's our duty to make sure that the general public is kept safe from people wielding dangerous magic. Standard procedure would dictate that any individual found wielding magic not recognised and approved by the Ministry should be taken in for questioning. Speaking of which where the hell did you learn to do all that?"

"I learned it because my sister gained Take Over magic by accident," Lisanna replied.

"I learned my Ice Magic from a great Mage who… well, that's not important," Gray muttered, a little bitterly.

"Juvia has always had an aptitude for Water Magic," Juvia replied. "She could use it before she could talk. A bit."

All these explanations just flew over Tonks' head for the most part, and she just stared at the three of them, slightly bemused.

"The Ministry you mentioned…" Gray suddenly interjected. "Is that another word for the Magic Council?"

"Magic Council? You mean the Wizard's Council? There hasn't been a Wizard's Council for over three-hundred years!"

"What!?" all three of them yelled at the same time, making Tonks jump backwards slightly, before Lisanna asked, "What year is it?"

"What year…? It's 1995 of course - surely you ought to know that at least…" Tonks trailed off when she saw the looks on the faces of these strangers only get more bewildered.

"1995?" Juvia asked. "But… last Juvia checked it was the Year X684."

"And the day of the S-Class trials took place on December 16th," Lisanna agreed. "What's the date now?"

"September… 9th, I think…" Tonk murmured. "It's a Monday, if that helps."

But the other three were all staring at each other now, with expressions that didn't seem to know whether they should be horrified or just confused."

"Is it possible that… somehow… we could have travelled through time?" Juvia asked.

"I doubt it," Lisanna grimaced, looking out across the street. "The general architecture of this place doesn't look much different from parts of Fiore… but I saw some differences. Like did you see those cars out there? They were incredibly different to the ones back home. In fact, one of the biggest differences between Earthland and Edolas was its cars, and those were different from both."

"What are you saying, Lisanna?" Gray asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"I'm saying it's entirely possible that we're not on Earthland at all. I think it's extremely possible we could be in another dimension entirely."

Lisanna's words dropped over Gray and Juvia's heads like a proverbial sledgehammer, and even Tonks reeled backwards slightly. These people surely had to be insane - they knew absolutely nothing about anything, their magic was absolutely ludicrous and they seemed to think they came from another universe.

And yet… oddly… that explanation made a whole lot more sense than anything else Tonks had been able to come up with herself.

But the sheer scale of the idea… it was mad. It had to be. There's no way it could be true.

"What's this world called?" Lisanna asked her suddenly. "What's this… this planet called?"

"Um… Earth…" Tonks said slowly.

"Just Earth? Not Earthland?"

"No, just Earth. I've always thought it was a stupid name for a planet but that's what it's called."

"Well, I suppose that might explain why that Jarvey thing told us we actually were still on Earthland. He must have assumed that we meant something more literal… like the land of Earth maybe."

"Assuming he wasn't just saying that to mess with us," Gray ran a hand over his face.

"Well… what do we do now?" Juvia fretted. "What about all our friends?"

But neither Gray nor Lisanna had any answers and Juvia knew they didn't before she even asked.

Tonks watched the three of them seem to draw closer together and her bewildered face softened slightly. Now she was seeing them in an entirely different light. They no longer looked like the tough, skilled fighters that she'd seen them being before they ducked into this alleyway. Now they all just looked like scared children, despair creeping into their faces. And she felt her heart going out to them. A large part of them still thought they were totally out of their tree but… they didn't look it.

They were just so… lost…

Now what the heck was she supposed to do?

Before she could answer that question, Juvia suddenly turned and prompted her. "What's you're name, Stranger-san?"

"My name? It's N… Tonks. Just call me Tonks."

"Tonks-san… please, can you help us?" Juvia asked imploringly. "If what Juvia and her friends believe is true and we are really in a different world to the one we grew up in, then we have nowhere to go. No home to go back to. But we do have friends that could be out there somewhere. Friends that are just as lost and confused as we are… is there anything that Tonks-san can do to help us?"

"Er…" Tonks hesitated, glancing at the others to see Lisanna looking at her almost equally pleadingly and Gray looking slightly dubious, quite clearly indicating he didn't believe she'd grant Juvia's request. "Well, look, I really should take you in for questioning."

"No chance," Gray growled slightly. "I've been to an alternate universe before, and I've seen the kind of things people in power can do when they get hold of people with magic they don't possess themselves. I'm not going anywhere where I could be poked and prodded and magically experimented on."

"Gray-sama… they might try and help us…" Juvia pointed out.

"Forget it," Gray shook his head. "I don't want anything to do with this Ministry place."

"I'm inclined to agree," Lisanna murmured. "At least for now. I want to at least find out more about this place and this Ministry first. Please Miss… can't you just let us go if nothing else?"

Tonks hesitated slightly, knowing that doing just that would violate several rules of being an Auror… but then again, she was already doing that, wasn't she? Her own cousin, Sirius Black, was wanted for horrendous crimes that he hadn't even committed and Tonks knew exactly where he was and was not turning him in. These people had committed no crimes either… and she had to agree with the shirtless man's assessment. What would happen if Ministry officials learned what this lot could do?

Tonks didn't really want to think about it. She wouldn't pretend to understand the mind's of the Ministry officials right now. What if Fudge thought they were too dangerous and ordered them incarcerated in Azkaban? What if they actually were subjected to experimentation to see if their magic could be extracted or duplicated or learned.

Oh, there was no way in heck that Tonks was going to let people who looked only a little older than the maximum Hogwarts school age go through that.

"I'm probably going to get in a lot of trouble for this," Tonks muttered slightly. "But if you want, you can all crash at mine for a while. At least until we figure out what the heck you're going to do next."

"Really?" Lisanna smiled brightly. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Hey, you saved me from being bird chow or a stain on the pavement - it's the least I can do," Tonks smiled.

Gray still looked suspicious but slowly nodded. "We appreciate it. But how do you plan on getting us past those others?"

"I'll take you to my home via Side-Along Apparition," Tonks supplied. "Um… do you know what that is? If you don't, its basically like a kind of magical teleportation, I think the word would be. Instant transfer from one place to another. I'll have to make two trips though - I can only take two people at a time."

"How do we know that you're actually going to take us to your house with this and not dump us in some prison somewhere?" Gray asked.

"Gray-sama…" Juvia rested her arm on his slightly. "Juvia believes we can trust Tonks-san. But also, Juvia doesn't believe we have too many other options."

"We could bust our way out and escape on our own," Gray pointed out.

"Yeah, but that might make us automatic enemies of this Ministry," Lisanna pointed out. "I think it might be best to avoid that happening if we can."

Gray grimaced but acknowledged Lisanna's advice - she'd spent two whole years on the run from the Royal Court of Edolas, after all. She knew as well as anyone that that was no way to live if you could avoid it.

"Alright then, let's do it," he nodded. "Who's going first?"

"Juvia will do," the rain woman volunteered as she stepped closer to Tonks. "How does this work?"

"Just hold my arm tightly," Tonks said as she held it up. "And be warned, most people throw up the first time they Apparate. It really doesn't feel pleasant."

"Juvia has probably experienced worse," Juvia said as she took Tonks' arm, and as Tonks scanned the bandages that were covering Juvia's limbs she realised she might just be telling the truth.

"Wait!" Lisanna suddenly gasped before they could do anything. "What about the Clippers? What's going to become of them?"

"The birds?" Tonks blinked. "They'll be rounded up and held by the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as they try and work out what they are."

"They won't hurt them will they? There's nothing magical about Clippers - they're just ordinary birds from our world that landed here by mistake like we did."

Tonks floundered, having no answer to that question. She didn't know what the Department would do under circumstances like that. "Well, I'm… sure they'll be fine. If they're really not magical I imagine they'd just try and find an island for them somewhere to set them free on."

"But what if they don't?" Lisanna asked.

"Lisanna…" Gray placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know how much you love animals but we really can't worry too much about those birds right now. We've got bigger problems, like worrying about ourselves and the rest of our friends. There's nothing that we can do about them anyway so the best thing we can do now is get the heck out of here and hope these people have a shred of decency about them."

Lisanna bit her lip, but after a moment's deliberation, she sighed and lowered her head. "I guess you're right. I don't like it, but you're right."

"Alright, let's go," Tonks nodded, and suddenly twisted around and Disapparated with a popping noise.

* * *

Juvia gasped as her body felt like it was being condensed and forced through some kind of tube, the whole world around her and Tonks spinning and blurring into a swirling mess until suddenly the two of them were standing in what looked like a living room. And a rather messy one, with a few clothes and empty packets of sweets and stuff littered all over the place.

"You alright?" Tonks asked as Juvia let go.

"Yes, Juvia is fine," Juvia nodded, stepping away, and indeed she was fine. "Juvia's body is water. Water flows."

Tonks raised a brow, but she conceded that Apparition must be nothing compared to morphing your entire body into liquid and swirling around in the air the way that she'd seen this woman do. "Right. Well, be right back," she said, as she vanished again with another pop, leaving Juvia alone to take in her surroundings.

"This looks cosy… Juvia supposes," she murmured as she picked her way over a couple of shirts strewn haphazardly on the floor and peered through a doorway into a nearby kitchen, which all seemed to be normal enough as far as she was concerned, and through another door which seemed to lead to some kind of bathroom. But then when she walked to a window and looked through it, she gasped in amazement.

They appeared to be quite a long way off the ground and immediately stretched out before her was an extremely wide river that curved away around the bend, with several long bridges spanning its width, all extremely different in design. On both sides of the river she could see huge, towering buildings, much large than most of the ones she'd seen in Fiore, many with equally spaced windows running horizontally and vertically across their entire length and no building seemingly the same height as another.

And wow… that had to be the biggest ferris wheel that Juvia had ever seen in her entire life.

Juvia's attention was so riveted that she didn't notice that Tonks had appeared behind her again with Gray and Lisanna in tow, right up until the point where Gray choked and fell to the floor with a crash, gasping for breath.

"Gray-sama! Are you okay?" Juvia immediately rushed to him.

"Looks like the effect of Apparition had more of an effect on him than you," Tonks chuckled, glancing up at Lisanna who had stumbled and looked extremely shaken, but still seemed to be better than Gray, perhaps since her body was used to being changed too. "It usually takes a bit of getting used to. If you're going to throw up, please do it in the bathroom, not…"

A split second later Gray threw up. Juvia reacted immediately and summoned a ball of water that caught the foul projectile and sent it flowing across the room and straight into the toilet before it could make a mess of Tonks' floor.

"Thanks," Gray croaked. "Ugh, that was rough."

Juvia practically levitated with giddiness at being thanked by Gray but she quickly shook her head and said, "Juvia can tell. But as least Gray-sama is safe now."

"Can only hope so," Gray pushed himself to his feet, even as Tonks ogled slightly at what Juvia had just done.

"That's a neat trick," she admitted. "I'll have to remember that one if I can."

"So… where are we?" Lisanna asked, sitting a little heavily down on the messy sofa.

"My apartment building in the city of London. It's the capital city of England in case you didn't know that… and I'm guessing you don't by the looks of your faces. Jeez, you guys are going to be hard to talk to, I reckon. Anyway, it's not that big and I've been thinking of moving but for now its home."

"Whatever the case, thank you for helping us out," Gray replied stiffly. "It is appreciated."

"You realise that if my boss found out that I'd been harbouring you three without taking you in, I'd be in all kinds of trouble, right?" Tonks asked.

"That just makes us appreciate it all the more," Lisanna smiled. "Thank you."

Tonks smiled lightly. "No problem… but I really need to get back now before they notice I'm not out in the field where I should be. I'll be back as soon as I can, but until then please don't go anywhere. But make yourself comfortable - there's milk and other stuff in the kitchen and yeah… hang tight and try not to break anything." She turned around instantly tripped on one of her own stray shirts and came crashing down to the floor, knocking a vase of flowers off a table as she went, which Lisanna was thankfully able to catch with the tips of her fingers before it could smash.

"I was about to say we'll try our hardest but it looks like you might have as much of a penchant for breaking things as we do," Gray smirked.

"Ha. Ha. Ha…" Tonks rolled her eyes as she scrambled up, dusted off her ropes and vanished with another popping noise, leaving the three Fairy Tail mages alone in the apartment.

"Looks like at least something's going right," Lisanna sighed as she placed the flowers back on the table. "We were probably lucky to meet her. She seems like a very nice person."

"We can only hope that's true and that this isn't some… elaborate and overly complicated trap," Gray muttered.

"Juvia doesn't think it is. Tonks-san seems to be genuine to me," Juvia threw in. "But still… Juvia truly does think we may have landed in an alternate world now. If Gray-sama and Lisanna-san look outside, they may see what I mean."

The two of them promptly did that, leaving the three of them staring out in amazement at the view - the London Eye seeming to stare at them a little even though it wasn't facing them. They could see all the cars and the boats down below, none of which looked anything like what they knew from back home and one of the bridges seemed to hold a railway line, giving them quite a clear view of a running train that was also unfamiliar in design.

While many of the things inside the apartment seemed normal, just about everything outside looked so… alien.

"If… if we are in an alternate universe… what are we supposed to do now?" Juvia asked. "We can't hide away in Tonks-san's house forever."

"Damned if I know," Gray huffed as he pulled away from the window and Lisanna trudged heavily back to the sofa and sunk down into the cushions. "Least when I was in Edolas I got given a mission to complete from start to end. I got pulled back into Earthland before I could even start worrying too much about anything in the long term."

Juvia nodded and turned to Lisanna, wondering if she was going to contribute anything, but she faltered when she saw Lisanna sitting with hands together, her face tight and with a tear beginning to roll its way down her cheek.

"Lisanna-san…" she gasped and hurried over, drawing Gray's attention. "Are you okay?"

"No…" Lisanna shook her head, sniffing as she wiped the tear away only for another to trail down the other side of her face. "None of us are. Not right now. But… it's just… not fair. How can this have happened to me again? And so quickly too?"

She placed her face in her hands and began to sob openly, her body wracking with her anguish. Gray stiffened visibly and began searching for something to say to try that didn't sound insensitive but Juvia beat him to it, placing a hand on Lisanna's shoulder.

"Don't cry, Lisanna-san. Please. You might start making Juvia cry too."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Lisanna hiccuped, looking up slightly with her face already extremely tear-stained. "It's just… after two years stranded in Edolas, two whole years with a totally different Fairy Tail, who all thought that I was a different Lisanna because I didn't have the heart to tell them I wasn't the one they knew, I finally got back to where I belonged. I finally reunited with my

real brother and my real sister and all the friends that I'd grown up with. I was home. But I didn't even get to stay there for three weeks before suddenly I've been whisked away again. Separated from Mira-nee and Elf-niichan again. It's not… it's not fair…!" she choked, her voice strangled, as she sat there and cried her eyes out.

"Um… well… you never know…" Gray grasped for his words. "Maybe Elfman and Mira are somewhere in this universe too."

"Maybe, but that's another thing," Lisanna sniffled. "I both want and don't want them to be in this universe. I want them to be here so that I can find them and stay with them, but I don't want them to be here because this isn't where they belong either. I want them to be back home at Fairy Tail where we all should be. But at the same time I want them to be here with me so bad… is that selfish of me?"

"Not at all, Lisanna-san," Juvia assured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders slightly. "There's nothing selfish about wanting to be with your family. Juvia… never really had a family until she joined Fairy Tail but in a way that means Juvia knows all the more how precious family is. Juvia wishes that Gajeel-kun was here, or Erza-san or Cana-san or any of the others. But Juvia knows that if Elfman-san and Mira-san are in this world then we will find them, no matter how hard we have to look, right, Gray-sama?"

"Absolutely!" Gray nodded, grateful that Juvia was taking charge of comforting Lisanna because he really didn't have a clue how to go about it. "We wouldn't be Fairy Tail if we didn't, would we?"

"I guess not," Lisanna-san sniffed. "But where are they? Where are we? Where are everyone?"

Juvia went a step further and pulled Lisanna into a consoling hug, which the younger sister gratefully returned, burying her face in Juvia's shoulder.

"Juvia doesn't know. But at least Lisanna-san is with people that she does know this time, right? She is not alone this time. Juvia and Gray-sama will be there with her no matter what comes now, and we can deal with all this together."

Lisanna smiled slightly through her tears and murmured, "Thanks Juvia. I'm… I'm glad you're here, even though I haven't known you - this you, anyway - for very long. You too, Gray."

"No worries," Gray chuckled. "You're right - this isn't fair. To any of us, but especially to you. But Juvia's right too. We'll take on the entire world if we have to until we find them all. It doesn't matter which world it is - that's what Fairy Tail would do. Right?"

"Right!" Lisanna nodded, looking up from Juvia's shoulder. "Thank you. Both of you." And it was right at this point that her stomach growled, and she blinked, giggling slightly sheepishly despite the fact she was still crying slightly.

"Well, I guess that answers the question as to what we do next," Gray remarked, striding into the kitchen. "Let's see what this woman has lying around."

* * *

It took some time before Tonks was finally able to get off from work. She'd been right when she'd guessed all of the Clippers would be rounded up and taken in to the Ministry of Magic, though with so many unconscious birds they had had to request permission to set up several Portkeys to transport them all. And of course the Obliviation began shortly afterwards - an enormous number of Muggles had seen not only their own magic, but the strange magic of the three Fairy Tail members, who had been seen by many of the other Aurors too.

Which meant this was likely to be a long stakeout as they wiped all the memories they could, making the people think that there had been a stampede of the cows they let wander through their streets which had caused all the damage and injuries. And it wasn't made easier by the fact a very large number of them had called the police.

Scrimgeour himself had seen Lisanna and Gray both doing a bit of fighting against the birds, and he was adamant that they be found and brought in. He and Tonks had both had a similar thought - could these people be somehow connected to the events in Portree yesterday, with that man they'd seen on the CCTV footage destroying the bank. But of course none of the Aurors found them and Tonks had to put on a show of looking for them for a while even though she knew they were not there.

But although Scrimgeour insisted on staying at the scene until this whole mess was sorted, he did permit Tonks to head home earlier than the others, since she had been on duty all the previous night as well, and could do with some rest. Tonks gratefully excused herself and Apparated back to her apartment, though rest was the last thing on her mind. She intended to start what might be the most interesting conversation of her life.

But when she arrived back in her living room, the first thing she saw was Lisanna and Juvia lying back on the sofa, arms around each other slightly and their chests rising and falling smoothly in their sleep.

It was right at that moment that Tonks was one-hundred percent sure she'd made the right decision not to bring these guys into the Ministry. The two of them looked so peaceful, Lisanna in particular clinging to Juvia as if for comfort and Tonks could see she'd been crying. Whatever the heck was going on with this lot, the last thing they needed was to be treated like interesting specimens or monsters.

"Back, I see," Gray noted from in the chair he was sitting on, swigging a glass of pumpkin juice that Tonks had stored in the fridge. "That way you appear out of nowhere's a bit disconcerting."

Tonks' eyes widened slightly when she saw what Gray was wearing… or rather what he was not wearing. "Er… I know I said to make yourself comfortable but… that might be pushing it a bit."

"What are you… YYAGH!" Gray yelled as he looked down at himself and realised that he'd somehow taken off his trousers without realising it, meaning he was wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. He immediately scrambled to grab them from where they were lying on the floor next to him, leaving Tonks blinking in surprise.

"Did you actually not notice that you'd taken those off?" she blinked.

"It happens all the time, okay!?" Gray gritted his teeth, his face reddening as he re-dressed himself.

"Er… right…?" Tonks faltered before she grinned slightly and said, "Well, I have to say the sight wasn't entirely unwelcome. Those are some great abs you've…" but before she could finish she practically felt the malevolence behind her and turned slowly to see Juvia, who had been awoken by Gray's yell, glaring daggers at her, her teeth grinding so hard they ought to be making the sounds of grating metal while Lisanna looked on in amusement.

Tonks got the message. No flirting with this guy - he was off limits. Eh, he was a few years younger than her anyway.

"Er… wotcha, girls," she waved a little nervously, stepping away from Gray. "Are you alright?"

"As well as can be under the circumstances, I think," Lisanna nodded. "What happened back at the town?"

"Oh, usual. They were searching for you, and they rounded up the birds like they said they would but really that's not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is you lot," she pulled up a chair and sat down on it heavily. "About who you are, where you come from. I wanna know everything, so come. Spill."

"Well… I'm Lisanna Strauss. This is Juvia Lockser, and Gray Fullbuster. You said your name was Tonks, right? What's your last name?"

"Er…" Tonks coughed awkwardly. "That… that is my last name."

"Oh… then what's your first name?"

"I really, really don't want to talk about it."

"Why?" Gray's brow furrowed. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

"Go on, you can tell us," Lisanna nodded. "You should be honest with us if we're going to stay under your roof for a while, right?"

"…Ugh… fine. It's Nymphadora, but if I hear you call me by it I swear I'll hex you until your noses fall off," she shuddered, her hair turning red very briefly before switching back to its usual pink. "God, I hate that name."

"What was that?" Juvia pointed at Tonks' hair, seemingly having gotten past the whole flirting with Gray thing. "Tonks-san's hair just changed colour for a moment there."

"Ah, well… that's because I'm a Metamorphmagus," Tonks grinned proudly. "That's a human who can change their appearance with a thought. It's a pretty neat trick, isn't it? But no, before you ask, I can't teach you how to do it. Metamorphmagi are born with their gifts."

"Oh, that's okay. We don't need to learn it," Lisanna smiled. "If we wanted to change our own appearance like that we'd learn to use Transformation Magic. My sister's an expert at it. She can change herself to look and sound exactly like any one of us in an instant flat."

"…Oh… really?" Tonks visibly deflated. "Damn… and there I thought maybe I could show off some unique talent I had that you guys don't. But I suppose I should have figured since I saw you turn into a half-bird and all."

"I can turn into a full bird when I want," Lisanna smiled. "And a rabbit and a fish and a cat and a mermaid and a penguin…"

"A mermaid? Really?" Juvia blinked. "Juvia didn't know that."

"Well, its not really useful for anything other than swimming and I can be a fish for that," Lisanna pointed out. "Though technically I just turn my lower half only into that of a fish for that - I don't actually have a Mermaid Soul, per se."

"Wait, wait, wait, I'm getting confused again," Tonks shook her head. "Look, how about we just start from the beginning? Tell me about this other universe of yours. And if there's anything whatsoever you have to say that sounds familiar, I'll let you know."

"Where do you even begin to start describing a whole world?" Gray groaned.

"We could do a Q and A session," Tonks snickered. "And I could begin by asking you how the hell you can take your clothes off without noticing. Speaking of which if you want to put a shirt on just pick any one of mine that strikes your fancy."

Gray immediately grabbed a red T-shirt and pulled it on before he avoided the topic and began the explanation with. "You wanted to know what this symbol means right? Well, it's the mark of Fairy Tail - the Mage's Guild we belong to."

"What's a Mage's Guild?"

"…We're going to be here a while…"

* * *

"DAMN IT!" Gajeel pounded the rocks before him with a massive club arm, shattering it and causing a miniature rockslide that pounded down into the river below him.

"Gajeel, calm down! We can figure this out," Lily gasped, Gajeel's arm around his body unconsciously tightening and pressing on his burn slightly.

"But we were getting closer - I could smell it!" Gajeel growled. "And now this?"

It had been a long journey up the river after Gajeel had finally caught hold of Wendy's scent. Particularly since they had had to make detours and stops to avoid being seen by several fishermen and people on bridges that crossed the gap on the way up. After what had happened in Portree, Gajeel was not eager to be spotted by any more locals until he knew more about this wacky place. But they had steadily been getting further and further up the river with Wendy's scent growing in Gajeel's nose.

And he could still smell her now.

But it seemed that they had reached the end of the road because they had reached a point where the river was flowing out from underground. A place where neither Gajeel nor the Exceed could go without help, which Gajeel guessed Wendy had had, because as well as her he'd been smelling several other bizarre scents, like a mix between humans, fish and seaweed. Not just the smell of the river though - he could tell that all those smells had come from the same source, whatever that source was.

"What do we do now?" Charla asked. "We need to go down there and find Wendy."

"Well unless Exceed can breathe underwater I don't think we'll be getting through there," Gajeel muttered. "I'm guessing that water runs underground for quite a long way."

"Then how do we follow Wendy now? Are you sure she didn't get out here?"

"Positive. We'd see signs of her clambering out the bank if she had but there ain't none. No, she went down there… Looks like I'll have to resort to tearing up the ground to expose the river or something. Damn, that's going to take time."

"There is another solution," Mavis giggled slightly as she landed on his shoulders weightlessly, leaning over him to look him in the face upside down, her long blonde hair tumbling down like a shower curtain below her. "I think you're forgetting I'm here, Gajeel. I don't have to breathe underwater."

"That's right!" Happy cheered. "Master Mavis can go down there and have a look."

"Indeed. I can find where the river comes out from underground, it if does at all, and then I'll come back and lead you to it. If you can still smell Wendy when we get to the other side, we'll know she's not down there. Assuming I don't find her myself of course."

Gajeel shook his head, grinning almost savagely. "Who'd have thought that ghosts could be so helpful? Better hurry though, First. The current is still taking Wendy's scent away. If we take too long I could lose it."

"Gotcha," Mavis flipped over and dove into the river, creating a splash which few of the others were really expecting from a ghost. But as Mavis had said, ghosts could be rather more solid than you might think. And Mavis was certainly feeling the cold of the river as she was dunked in it. But the current itself had no effect on her so she easily swum up it and underground.

It was pitch dark down here and Mavis couldn't see in front of her, but she could sense her surroundings and thanked her lucky stars that the river seemed to be rather straight and didn't have any tributaries flowing into it down here. It was all just one river, which meant that Wendy could have only gone in one direction - the one that Mavis herself was going now.

It took maybe fifteen minutes for her, going steadily, until she saw light and she burst up and out into the sunshine once more. And that was when Mavis saw it - the castle shining slightly in the light of the late afternoon sun, its tall impossible spires reaching up to brush the sky, bordered by a massive lake and a dark tangled forest.

Mavis gasped in admiration. "Wow… I should have something like that built on Tenroujima… but surely there must be a ninety-eight percent chance that Wendy went there."

She quickly darted back across the landscape, following the path of the river above the ground as she had memorised its course while going through it and shortly she was back in front of Gajeel and the Exceeds, telling them quickly about what she'd found.

"A castle? That must be it! Surely Wendy must be there!" Charla's eyes were shining with hope. "She must be!"

"Can't be sure of that yet," Gajeel reminded her. "But seems like a damn good spot to me. Geehee! Let's get going, Blue Cat. We've got a little girl to find!"

"Aye sir!" Happy called as he spurred them forwards with a flap of his wings, Charla flying ahead as Mavis led the way - the entire group now grinning as it seemed they were nearing the end of their chase.

"There it is!" Mavis pointed when the castle came into sight. "Dead ahead."

"That's got to be the place!" Charla whooshed past her, rushing ahead towards the castle. "I'm coming Wendy! I'm on my way!"

"White cat, wait up!" Gajeel bellowed as Happy shot forwards to try and keep up with her. "We don't know who lives there yet!"

"That doesn't matter! Wendy might be there! That's all the reason we need to go in."

"Yeah, but we should still be prepared to GWAH!" Gajeel and Happy both suddenly yelled at the same time as Gajeel seemed to crash right into what appeared to be a totally invisible wall of some kind, his body flattened against thin air as Happy tried to keep flying, only for Gajeel to not budge an inch further forward.

"Hey! What are you guys playing at!?" Charla cried. "This is no time for games!"

"I don't play games," Gajeel snorted, peeling is face backwards and slamming his fist forwards, only for it to stop suddenly at the same point his body reached. There was no impact - no sound that indicated he'd touched anything. He just seemed to stop here as if his body physically couldn't go any further.

"What's… going on?" Happy yelled as he tried to haul Gajeel forwards to no effect whatsoever. The blue cat flapped backwards slightly to draw Gajeel away and then zoomed forwards again, only for Gajeel to suddenly stop at the same point as if he was being repelled by a giant magnet and couldn't get a single step further.

"Oi, stop that!" Gajeel grunted as he felt his face flatten against something he couldn't see.

"It looks like the castle has some kind of magical defences," Mavis noted as she hovered through whatever it was that was blocking Gajeel's way.

"Runes, maybe?" Charla asked.

"Don't feel like runes to me," Gajeel muttered as he pushed himself back. "Runes felt solid. This just feels like the air itself is trying stopping me from going through."

"No but it may be the same kind of principle," Mavis pointed out. "Some kind of magical barrier that's preventing humans from entering the premises without being invited. I'm guess they don't have a defence against ghosts and flying cats or the rest of us might not be able to get through either."

"Put me down, Blue Cat," Gajeel grunted, and Happy obeyed, lowering him towards the floor as the Iron Dragon Slayer glared at the towering structure before him.

"Think you can keep out Gajeel Redfox, do you?" he murmured. "Bring it on. One way or another I'm busting in there. You can count on it!"


	9. Phoenix Meet Fairy

Just a heads up to everyone - I am actually on holiday right now as I post this chapter to you - I wrote most of this chapter on the plane. And I will be on holiday until a week on Sunday so I may miss the regular Friday update depending on how much time I get for writing, but if I do, I will make up time after I return. In other words, there will be two chapters in the next two weeks as usual, just that the first one might not be on the right day.

* * *

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 9:- Phoenix Meet Fairy**

* * *

Tonks' brain was absolutely reeling from the information overload she was receiving. Lisanna seemed to be the one doing most of the talking and Gray and Juvia both seemed quite happy to let her - it seemed she was a better storyteller than they were. But everything she was saying… it was so much to take in.

More and more, the Metamorphmagus believed that this trio of incredible youngsters really were from another world. Everything Lisanna was saying jarred with everything Tonks knew about her own world, from the fact that the Muggles in their world not only knew about magic but asked for help from it with the magic users more than eager to oblige, to talking dragons, to the guild system - both light and dark - and everything else like it.

It was unfathomable.

Yet she didn't doubt a word of it.

Yet at the same time she was constantly asking herself how two separate worlds, both with magic in the air, could be so utterly and completely different from one another even without delving into the differences between magic itself. It seemed that magic for this lot wasn't about learning an assortment of different spells and theories that could help them accomplish multiple different tasks like levitating something to a high shelf, cheering somebody up, turning cutlery into crockery or anything like that. There were dozens and dozens of different magical types for them, each with a specific focus. In fact, when Tonks had demonstrated a little transfiguration by turning one of her cushions into a teddy bear, all three of them had found that astounding.

"This is all so much to take in," she rubbed her forehead slightly, leaning back in her chair thoughtfully. "You guys are… freaking mental. And what the heck am I supposed to do with you now? I can't very well let you stay here eating through my food but can I just let you go off and do your own thing. Nobody in this world has seen anything like you - you could be a one-way freight train to disaster under the wrong circumstances."

"And yet we cannot stay even if we wanted to," Gray pointed out. "We've got friends to find. And trust me, if we don't find Natsu before he goes and blows something up there will definitely be a one-way freight train to disaster."

"Blows something up?" Tonks blinked before she gasped and sat up. "The bank! I forgot to ask you about the bank!"

"Ask us about the what?" Juvia frowned. "What have riversides got to do with any of this?"

"Riv… You guys don't even have banks in… well, never mind. It's not important. All you need to know is that in this world, banks are places where people go to keep their money safe when they're not using it."

"Store their money? That's an utterly ludicrous idea. Why not just keep it in a safe or something like any sane person would?" Gray scoffed.

"Well, it doesn't matter. It's hard to explain the concept of a bank but the point is, yesterday in a place called Portree miles and miles and miles to the north of here some young men broke into a bank and tried to steal the money there…"

"Yep, see, stupid idea," Gray confirmed.

"Well people's personal money wouldn't have been… oh why am I defending Muggle banks anyway? The point is people broke it to try and rob the place except they were very quickly stopped by a man with extremely strange magic who destroyed half the bank in the process. My boss, Scrimgeour, and the rest of the Aurors are trying to find this guy before he exposes magic to the Muggles. Does that sound like he could be this Natsu guy? The man what looked like a freaking tornado out of his mouth!"

"Sounds very Natsu to me," Lisanna beamed slightly. "What did he look like?"

"Rather tall guy, strong arms, very long very messy black hair… oh and he seemed to turn his arm into some kind of club as well to smack the robbers with."

"Oh, that's not Natsu," Gray replied. "But it sounds like someone else we know."

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia breathed. "It must have been Gajeel-kun."

"Who's Gajeel-kun?" Tonks blinked, not missing the fact that while Lisanna still had a look of relief on her face, she had ever-so-slightly deflated at this news that it was not Natsu.

"Gajeel is one of those Dragon Slayers we told you about," Gray nodded. "The Iron Dragon Slayer. He's not really got Natsu's penchant for blowing things up but the guy's got just about as much subtlety as him in battle. As in, none at all."

"Oh, don't pretend you don't break things all the time while on jobs yourself, Gray," Lisanna rolled her eyes slightly. "And you've taken your shirt off again."

"DAMNIT!"

"Gray-sama… stop showing your abs to all the other girls!"

"Ooookay," Tonks replied, as she pushed herself to her feet and stretched slightly. "Well at least you know that there's someone else you know in this world now. I suppose that can be your next step - tracking this guy down before he breaks something else maybe. Though how you'll find him I don't know. But anyway, I really need some sleep. I've been up for over twenty-four hours now so I could do with some shut-eye. Feel free to kip wherever you like. Heck, Gray and Juvia you can snuggle up on the sofa together for all I care…"

"THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" Gray immediately bellowed with a violent jerk while Juvia went red as a cherry and clapped her hands over her cheeks, murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like:- "Aah… Juvia and Gray-sama… snuggling together… Gray-sama could use Juvia's chest as a pillow… and…" before Lisanna suddenly covered her mouth before she could get too into it, hoping Gray hadn't heard that.

But he had. And he also hadn't put his shirt back on yet.

"Riiight…" Tonks scratched her arm, eyes flicking to each of her sudden houseguests, guessing she'd trodden on some very awkward territory there from the way Juvia was looking down at her boots and Gray was determinedly looking anywhere but at her. "Well… as was, er… saying, you can kip anywhere you want - sorry I don't really have anywhere specific but I'm not exactly used to houseguests. Anyway, I need to…"

She stopped, blinking, when she spotted something which in all her excitement and amazement before she had totally failed to notice - there was an unopened envelope sitting on her table not far from her open window. She immediately crossed over to it and ripped it open, pulling out a hastily scrawled note inside:-

_Emergency meeting at nine o'clock tonight. Be there if you can make it._

She recognised the writing as the relatively neat quillmanship of Remus Lupin - even though she hadn't know the guy for very long he was one of the neatest of the Order members despite his shabby appearance. Regardless, her head snapped up to stare at the clock on the wall and yelped when she spotted that it was now eight past nine, meaning she was already late.

"Something wrong?" Lisanna asked.

"No, nothing's wrong but I've just learned I'm late for something important!" Tonks immediately hurried to her fireplace and scooped up some Floo Powder. "Do whatever you want. Hopefully I'll be back soon."

"Where you going?" Gray demanded.

"Secret," Tonks replied as she stepped into the fireplace, swung around and cried, "12 Grimmauld Place!"

All three of the Fairy Tail members yelled as Tonks was immediately engulfed by green flames the moment she dropped the Floo Powder to her feet. Juvia acted immediately and flung a wall of water in an attempt to douse the flames, but just as it splashed over Tonks she suddenly vanished, as if she'd been whipped down into the flames and out of sight.

"…What… just happened?" Gray muttered after a short blanket of silence.

"Um… I'm guessing some kind of magical transportation of this world," Lisanna murmured. "We used to be able to transport the entire guild from place to place in Edolas. Well… Levy did."

"She could have warned us though," Gray sighed.

Juvia picked up the note that Tonks had found and read it through herself but couldn't glean anything from it. "Juvia wonders where she went," she murmured.

* * *

Because the flames of a Floo Powder transport were not really hot and did not burn, Tonks was instantly soaked by Juvia's water blast and did not dry out until she spun out of the fireplace in a sodden heap into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Spitting out water and murmuring, "Thanks Juvia…" to herself, she looked up slowly through matted hair and saw that just about the entire Order were already assembled and already sitting around the long dining room table before her. Dumbledore was stood at the head, flanked by McGonagall and Snape.

And every head in the room turned towards her as she appeared, and many eyebrows were raised at the sight of her soaked form.

"Er… wotcha guys," Tonks grinned a little lopsidedly at them.

"You alright there, cousin?" Sirius chuckled, getting up to help Tonks to her feet. "Is there some kind of monsoon in a very small, very concentrated part of London or did you decide to go for a dip in the Thames?"

"Neither," Tonks wiped water out of her eyes. "I could tell you what happened, but then I'd have to kill you."

Well really, how was she supposed to tell anyone what she'd learned that day without sounding like a total whackjob?

Sirius snickered and waved his wand, drying Tonks off instantly and letting her take a seat next to him. "Sorry I'm late," Tonks said. "It's been a long day."

"It's quite alright, Miss Tonks," Dumbledore nodded from his place at the head. "You have not missed anything. I was just telling everyone present that there has been a sudden and highly unexpected turn of events which might affect the whole magical world, but I had not got round to explaining what that is yet."

"Oh, okay. Well… what's the news then?" Tonks asked.

"It is quite extraordinary," Dumbledore addressed the room. "And I would not be surprised if, when I have explained it, some of you in this room thought that perhaps I need an extended trip to St. Mungos to have my sanity checked as a good deal of the rest of the Wizarding World seems to now. You may choose whether you believe me or not, but what I say is true."

This caused some muttering and apprehensive looks through the room, but this was quickly cut off from a thunking noise that indicated Alastor Mad-Eye Moody had decided to bang his wooden leg against the ground. It was rare to have his artificial blue eye and his regular eye focused in the same place but now they were both riveted on Dumbledore.

"We're all ears, Professor," he growled. "Tell us."

"Thank you, Alastor," Dumbledore nodded. "Perhaps some of you may know of the odd events that have been occurring these last couple of days. For those of you that do not know all the details, allow me to connect the dots but listing them:- range meteor showers, a large glowing and impenetrable sphere found in a field, an attack on a couple of dragons in the Hebrides by an unknown assailant and a Muggle attempt to rob a Muggle bank foiled by a single man wielding odd magic that took down half the place. I am year to tell you that all these events are connected in a way that I could never have predicted."

"There's more, Professor," Kingsley spoke up. "I just got in from a meeting with Scrimgeour and he was telling me of a strange attack on the town of Brockenhurst earlier today. Nymphadora, you were there were you not?"

"Don't call me that, Shacklebolt," Tonks glared sharply at him, before hesitating and saying, "But yes… yes, I was…"

"Did you see them?" Kingsley asked.

"See who?" Arthur Weasley questioned.

"The report that led to the Auror response spoke of an attack by an unknown species of large birds, presumed to be magical in origin," Kingsley replied. "But when they arrived, many Aurors claimed to have seen three young people, one man and two women, using magics that they'd never experienced before. But they disappeared before they could be taken into custody. Scrimgeour is pitching a fit, trying to find these people before they do any more damage. Tonks, did you see them?"

"…I did," Tonks nodded slowly. "Do you… do you know something about them, Professor?"

"I may do," Dumbledore was staring at Tonks now over the top of his glasses. "But… something tells me… you may already know almost as much as I do. Would I be correct in that assumption, Miss Tonks?"

"Well… what do you know, Professor?" Tonks queried, and the room was now switching focus between them like watching a tennis match - Mad-Eye being the only one to not move his head.

"I know that these individuals are not a strange new danger devised by Voldemort."

"Yep, I know that too."

"I know that they arrived in that meteor shower."

"That I didn't know but go on."

"And I know that they are from an entirely different universe."

"Oh yeah, that I definitely know."

There was a pause before a sudden clamour started throughout the room with seemingly everyone trying to ask questions or at least make themselves heard at once.

"Not from this universe?"

"What are you talking about?"

"How can this be?"

"But that's impossible!"

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Even if that's true are they dangerous?"

But Dumbledore cut off their questions by simply raising his hand, before he nodded towards Tonks. "Why don't we let Tonks tell her story and then I shall tell mine. Let's see how much they match."

Tonks rubbed the back of her head awkwardly - she had not expected that she'd have to tell the Order about this quite so quickly. But considering the circumstances it probably wasn't so surprising. So she quickly outlined everything, from the moment she'd met Juvia to how Lisanna had saved her life, how she'd decided to break regulation and harbour these three largely innocent people until she could figure out what the heck to do about them, and then some of the things that they'd told her. Lots of people kept trying to interrupt to ask a question, but whenever they did Dumbledore just indicated for them to be quiet and let Tonks go on until she saw fit to stop.

When she finally did, Dumbledore similarly unveiled his story, how Murcus had brought Wendy to Hogwarts, how he'd been given permission to look into her memories and seen some incredible things in there, and how he'd left her with Aberforth so that she wouldn't get into further trouble while they tried to figure out how to help her.

When they'd both finished, the entire room was silent for a good long time. If most of them were honest with themselves, they actually might have thought Dumbledore had cracked if he'd appeared before them to tell them that alone. But with both Dumbledore and Tonks relaying such similar information all at once… surely there was no way they could have both gone loopy at the same time.

"So… these three are currently at your residence, Miss Tonks?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Yeah, I told them they could hang there for a while. Assuming they haven't up and left while I've been here then they're still there."

"I'm sure you can guess that I'll be very interested to meet them."

"Shall I bring them here?"

"Shortly, if you would."

"But this is… this is just… so crazy," Molly was wringing her hands slightly. "How can this have possibly happened? It defies… all logic…"

"There is a prevailing opinion actually, in Muggle scientists, that there could be many thousands of universes out there across a gigantic omniverse," Dumbledore replied. "It seems that finally another one of those universes may have made contact with our own in a way that neither of our worlds anticipated."

"I think this is extremely exciting," Arthur was grinning broadly. "Think about it - an entire new world. An entire new civilisation… with its own magic, its own history, its own people… think of all the fascinating things we could learn."

"Fascinating is one word for it," Moody muttered, glowering slightly. "What I want to know is just how dangerous this lot are."

"By what I have seen, Mad-Eye," Tonks snorted. "They would make extremely dangerous enemies."

"That is a conclusion I too have drawn," said Dumbledore.

"Then perhaps more to the point, what if You-Know-Who finds out about them?" Moody thumped his hand down on the table slightly. "What if he tries to convert them to his side somehow, make them fight against the rest of us? If these guys are really so dangerous that could be the very last thing we need."

"I don't think this lot would join up with You-Know-Who," Tonks shook her head. "I may not know them very well but I definitely got the feeling every one of them are strong believers in fighting for freedom and protecting the innocents."

"Again, I agree, especially from what I have gleaned from the mind of young Wendy," Dumbledore announced. "Fairy Tail, as they call themselves, have accomplished incredible feats in the name of stopping evil in their own world. I have little doubt that Voldemort…" the room winced almost collectively… "Could not convince them to come to his cause willingly. In fact, they already fought against and defeated a group of people who wished to create a world solely for magical people back in their world. But that does not mean Voldemort could not find other ways to pull them to his side of the fight. I don't know how successful he might be, but it would be unwise to underestimate him."

"What are you saying, Professor?" Emmeline Vance asked. "What course of action should we take?"

"Why, we must do all we can to help Fairy Tail of course. We must find them and bring them together, protect them from being found and exploited by Voldemort. The Order of the Phoenix is committed to stopping Voldemort in any way it can. And that makes this now one of our highest priorities."

"You think they could make good new allies for us?" Kingsley supplied.

"It's very likely, but that is not the main reason for this course of action. It is not only about denying Voldemort this extra firepower. It is simply the right thing to do, is it not?"

There were still many in the room who doubted the validity of what Dumbledore was saying, but on that point every one of them agreed.

"Excellent. Perhaps it is time that we met some of our new… well, perhaps we cannot call them friends yet but you get my drift…" Dumbledore suggested. "Sirius, perhaps you would be willing to allow some extra house guests to stay here for a while? It might be more convenient for them to hide here than at Tonks' apartment."

Sirius looked positively ecstatic, which made Remus smile slightly when he saw it. These Fairy Tail members had become wanted fugitives through no fault of their own, much like Sirius himself. The poor man was practically under house arrest since he could not leave without risking getting found and caught by either Death Eaters or the Ministry, which meant he was often alone in the house while the others were completing Order business. Alone except for his surly elf Kreacher, a screeching portrait of his own mother and a hippogriff that is. The idea of suddenly having a house full of other, interesting people had to be the best news Sirius had had for a while. Especially now that his godson had headed off back to school once again.

"Naturally they can stay," Sirius barked, grin spreading from ear to ear. "Sounds like this lot might really liven the place up some."

"Yeah and you can definitely provide them with better food here than I can in the little dump I call home," Tonks laughed.

"Very well then," Dumbledore conjured a piece of paper and a Self-Inking quill from the air and quickly scrawled something down on the paper and then whisking it to Tonks. "Miss Tonks, if you would be so kind."

Tonks glanced down at the paper which read:-

_The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London._

Tonks understood what this was for - Grimmauld Place had been placed under the Fidelius Charm - the ultimate way of keeping people hidden since the place couldn't be found by anyone unless one specific Secret Keeper revealed its location. Dumbledore was the Secret Keeper for this place, and Gray, Juvia and Lisanna wouldn't be able to get in here without him telling them about it in some way, and writing would do it.

"Be right back," Tonks leapt to her feet, caught her toes on the leg of the table and fell to the floor with a crash. Amidst the sudden laughter from the room, she scrambled to her feet, refusing to be embarrassed by it considering it happened all the time, and hurrying over to the fireplace.

* * *

"You sure that Tonks will mind us eating this?" Lisanna asked, even as she reached into the packet again.

"Why not?" Gray asked, eyeing one of the Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans that he'd found in the cupboard. "She said we can take anything we wanted."

"Juvia thinks this is quite the remarkable little snack," Juvia laughed as she popped another bean into her mouth experimentally, brightening as she added, "Oh, strawberry. Erza-san would have liked that one."

Gray bit his own in half, chewing thoughtfully before he laughed and said, "Well this one tastes a little like roast lamb."

"Eugh, this one tastes like plastic," Lisanna grimaced as she swallowed it quickly, before picking out another one and licking it briefly. "And… I'm not even sure what this one tastes of but its not bad."

"EEK! Chili! Chili!" Juvia gasped as she took a bite out of another one. "Wow, it's even spicy."

"Let's try this one then," Gray tossed another one up in the air and caught it deftly in his mouth… before blanking and hacking it out across the floor. "OH GOSH! THAT ONE TASTED LIKE FREAKING BLOOD!"

Juvia and Lisanna shivered slightly, suddenly deciding they might not be so eager to try any of the rest of the beans. And it was at this point that Tonks appeared in a burst of green flame that startled them all, causing Juvia to knock the table and send the beans flying as the packet tipped over.

Tonks blinked, before laughing, "I'm guessing you don't have that back where you come from, huh?"

"Not that we know of," Gray wiped his tongue slightly, his hand on his shirt as if unconsciously thinking about taking it off again. "Eugh, that last one was rank. Anyway, you going to tell us where you went?"

"Nope, I'm going to show you," Tonks replied. "I've got some good news for you. I know where another one of your friends are. Wendy, I think her name is."

"Wendy-san?!" Juvia leapt to her feet, the other two close behind her. "Is she alright? Is she injured?"

"She's fine and she's safe," Tonks assured them. "She was found by Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of that school that I told you about - Hogwarts. He called a meeting between me and a lot of my associates earlier but it turns out he wanted to tell us about you lot. Since he already knew about you guys from what Wendy's told him, I told them about you and now they want to meet you."

"Wait a minute," Gray narrowed his eyes. "I thought you weren't going to turn us in to this Ministry place."

"I haven't. I told the Order of the Phoenix about you. It's a special order which is devoted to protecting people from the threats of Dark Wizards. The Ministry has nothing to do with it, except for the fact that some people work for both, like me… I guess you could say the Order is the closest thing we have in this world to a guild. Or maybe Hogwarts is… I dunno. But they're really interested to meet you lot. You wanna come?"

"If they know where Wendy is then certainly," Lisanna nodded immediately.

"Juvia agrees."

Gray still looked a little disgruntled, but he nodded his head and muttered, "Sold."

"Great. Quickly you guys read this paper," she passed Dumbledore's note to Lisanna. "And then we can go via the Floo Powder."

"The what now?" Lisanna asked as she passed the note to Juvia.

"The… fire travel."

"Oh, now hold on," Gray backed away slightly before Juvia could give him the note. "No way in heck am I doing that. I'm an Ice Mage. Ice and fire do not mix under any circumstances."

"You and Natsu-san make a good team," Juvia pointed out.

"No, we don't," Gray denied stubbornly.

"Gray, it's fine. It's magical fire - it doesn't burn or anything. It's a bit uncomfortable but compared to Apparition its a walk in the park," Tonks assured him.

"I'm sure it will be fine," Lisanna smiled. "How does it work?"

"Just do what I'm about to do," Tonks replied, stepping back into the fire with a handful of powder once again and calling, "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!" All three of them flinched as the fire whooshed up around her once more, then stared at the empty fireplace where she'd once been.

"…Looks simple enough," Juvia murmured, passing Gray the note. "Juvia guesses we can try it…" she trailed off slightly when Lisanna started giggling behind her hand. "What's so funny, Lisanna-san?"

"Oh nothing really," Lisanna snickered. "I was just thinking we may have found a method of transportation that Natsu might actually like."

Even Gray laughed at that.

* * *

Tonks re-appeared to find an expectant room and this time she managed not to topple over as she stepped out of the fireplace. "They should be coming," she said. "Any moment now."

But it still took a full minute of bated breath before suddenly there was a flash of green fire and Lisanna yelped as she tipped out of the fireplace. Tonks lunged to catch her, but this time she did end up tripping over and crashed into the falling Lisanna, both of them falling the the floor in a tangle of limbs.

"Uuuhh… maybe I was wrong," Lisanna muttered as she tried to extricate herself, rubbing her head ruefully. "I don't think even the fire would stop Natsu from getting motion sick from that." But then she pushed herself up and noticed the room staring at her with wide eyes. She blushed slightly at all the attention and murmured, "Um… hi…"

"Welcome to Twelve Grimmauld Place, Lisanna Strauss," Dumbledore spread his arms wide. "Please feel free to make yourself comfortable."

"Are you Albus Dumbledore?" Lisanna asked, curiously.

"Indeed I am. My condolences for finding yourself lost in another dimension like this. Hopefully I will be able to provide some answers to the questions you seek. But before you ask, no, I do not know where your brother and sister are, I'm afraid. But I can assure you now that they are here in this world somewhere, along with all the rest of your guild that were on Tenroujima when Acnologia attacked."

Most of that passed right over the heads of the Order members, but Lisanna looked torn between feeling relief and concern. "Oh… well… thank you for telling me. At least… at least that clears a couple of things up."

Moments later Juvia arrived, looking rather dizzy and a short time after that Gray was there. The three Fairy Tail members stood together by the fireplace, staring out at the amassed Order members who stared right back, before Sirius broke the silence by asking, "Why don't you have shirt on, kid?"

"What the… where did it go?!" Gray yelled. "I'm sure I was wearing it when I stepped into the fireplace!"

"…Did you actually strip in the middle of a Floo Powder transportation?" Tonks asked, slightly deadpan. "Great, that probably means by shirt's lying in some stranger's fireplace now."

Juvia immediately stepped in front of Gray and glowered in the direction of Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones, while Lisanna ran a hand down her face slightly. Severus Snape, meanwhile, turned to Dumbledore and asked, "These children are the ones who have fought incredible battles in their world, Headmaster. Forgive my scepticism but they don't seem to be… all that disciplined."

"Indeed they are not, Severus. But if you had seen what I saw, you would know that I am quite serious. Regardless, greetings to you all, Fairy Tail. You are most welcome here at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and we would like to extend an invitation for you to stay here for a while. This place can be your new home should you so desire, perhaps until a way can be found to return you to your true home."

"Thank you for your generosity, Dumbledore-san?" Juvia bowed her head.

"Where's Wendy?" Gray cut to the chase instead.

"Your friend is currently staying at my brother's house, and we will take you to see her soon. But first, we would like to talk to you about a few things."

"What kind of things?" Lisanna asked.

"Mostly about what we hope to happen in the future. But for now, it might be best to start with introductions. After all, you may be stuck with a few of us for some time."

"And I for one would quite like to see what these kids are capable of doing," Mad-Eye cut in, his eye flicking from one of the three to the others in rapid succession, and there was a chorus of agreement from around the table.

"This isn't going to become a pattern, is it?" Gray sighed. "Us constantly having to explain who we are to people and stuff?"

"Probably," Tonks shrugged. "But Professor Dumbledore and I already told them everything so I guess this time all they want is the demonstrations."

"Well, in that case, I guess I'll go first," Lisanna shrugged and her body shimmered briefly and suddenly she was in her cat form, tail waving and paws raised, claws extending and retracting briefly.

"Hah. That's nothing," Sirius grinned and suddenly got out of his chair. "Watch this, kid. This is how you turn into an animal." And suddenly his body shrank and a very large, very shaggy black dog was standing in his place. Sirius shook himself and wagged his tail, tongue lolling out as he gave Lisanna what could only be described as puppy dog eyes.

"Wow, that's pretty good," Lisanna leaned down to pet Sirius' head for a moment with one paw, an action which caused the huge dog to flatten his ears back and his tail to beat backwards and forwards even harder while Lisanna seemed to concentrate on him intensely for a moment… before suddenly her body shimmered again and there was an exact copy of the black dog standing in her place. This definitely made the room gasp - turning into animals for them was a long and difficult process and each person could only turn into one animal after they mastered it, but they'd just seen Lisanna turn into two before their eyes. Sirius himself seemed momentarily bewildered before he barked and the two dogs were suddenly gambolling around one another, until it became quite impossible to tell which was which.

"If we might get this back on track to a proper meeting that might be good," Snape drawled distastefully. One of the dogs turned to growl at him before morphing back into Sirius, who continued to glare.

"Talk to my guests like that again under my roof and I'll boot you out on the…"

"Sirius," Dumbledore said warningly.

The Animagus halted but gave Snape another sour look before he took his seat. "Anyway, that was pretty neat, girl."

"Thanks," Lisanna said, without changing back into a human - and that really threw them all for a loop, even Sirius. No Animagus had ever been able to talk while in animal form before. "But my magic's not that powerful compared to most of the others, I'll admit. Gray and Juvia are both much stronger than I am."

Juvia quickly took her turn to demonstrate by turning to water and sweeping in several laps around the room in liquid form before shooting over the table and reforming in the middle and sending small plumes of water out the filled several empty glasses at once. Gray then created several large ice sculptures and then whipped a couple of ice swords into his hands. Both of these acts suitably impressed the room as a whole, but before a flurry of questions about how they learned to do that could start flying, Dumbledore beat the rest to the punch.

"Your magic is quite exquisite and quite clearly comes in many different forms. But let me ask you something. When I viewed your world in Wendy's memories, it seemed to me that anyone in your world can learn how to use magic. Is that true?"

"In a way," Gray nodded. "Gramps, that is Master Makarov, always said that it takes real conviction, heart and belief to be able to learn magic but as long as you have that anyone can do it."

"I see. That is very different from our world. In our world, you either have magic or you don't. It is as simple as that. It's actually down to something called 'genetics' as the Muggles call it. The ability to use magic is built into the body of a witch or wizard. But I also saw something else about you - your magic can run out if you use too much and you have to wait for it to return naturally. How does that work?"

"Juvia can answer that one. In our world, all people have a special container within their bodies that, if they learn magic, allows their body to absorb a special energy from the air called Eternanos and convert it into magical power. As we use magic we use up some of the Eternanos in our bodies but we replenish it automatically afterwards."

"Wait… do we have Eternanos in this world!?" Gray suddenly asked, sharply. "What if we run out of magic here?"

"We did not have Eternanos before you arrived," Dumbledore replied. "But we do now as a large amount of it was transported here at the same time that you were. But it seems my theory may be correct. We of this world cannot learn the types of magic that you wield because we do not have this Eternanos absorbing container in our bodies. And you, similarly, cannot learn the magic we have because you do not have the genes that we have in our bodies that determines who can and cannot use it. I would assume that if one of us gave you a wand it would not respond to you no matter how much you screamed out a spell. Though perhaps it might be able to channel your own magic somehow, but a wand would more likely limit you than help you."

There was an air of disappointment around the room at that - a great many of them had been extremely interested in the idea of trying to learn what they had just seen the Fairy Tail mages do.

"Wait…" Lisanna turned back into a human. "How do you know Eternanos was transported here with us? How much do you know?"

"Everything I know I learned from Wendy," Dumbledore replied. "And everything she knows she learned from the founder of your guild, Mavis Vermilion herself."

"EEEHHHHHHH!?" screamed all three of them simultaneously. Dumbledore laughed and quickly explained everything, starting with how Mavis had helped save them from Acnologia in the first place with her Fairy Sphere right up until the point where all the miniature Fairy Spheres had been scattered around somewhere at random.

"Damn," Gray murmured after a while. "I'm not sure whether that's made things easier or harder. But at least Wendy is okay, and the three Exceed are out there somewhere."

"I still can't believe it," Charlie shook his head slightly - Dumbledore had already told him about the identity of the big black cat that had been seen with the dragons, as well as Wendy's involvement in injuring them. "All this stuff about talking cats is one thing but humans wielding Dragon magic that they learned from talking dragons… what I wouldn't give to meet one."

"Not as much as they would considering their dragon parents abandoned them seven years… or I suppose thirteen years now… for an unknown reason," Lisanna pointed out.

"Maybe but even so… talking dragons… it's like in the old myths. People used to say dragons could talk in the old days when Merlin and King Arthur were still alive, but nobody really believes that anymore."

"Well, regardless, we may already know where some of your other friends are," Kingsley voiced. "The Ministry now has access to one of those golden spheres which was found in a field yesterday before being transported to the Department of Mysteries. If that is indeed a small Fairy Sphere, which it surely must be, some of your friends may be contained inside."

"What!?" Gray shouted. "The Ministry has some of our members!? Why didn't you say so before! Where are they - we have to go and help them!"

"And we shall," Remus assured them. "In whatever way we can, but if I've understood everything correctly - and I'm not totally sure that I have - your friends are safe for the moment. That Sphere should keep out any attempts to break into it if it truly is impenetrable."

"That is true, but let's not forget," McGonagall chipped in. "These Spheres are supposedly on a random time limit as to when they will lower on their own. I almost dread to think what will happen if some of these Fairy Tail members find themselves in Ministry custody the moment they wake up. They won't know what's going on - it could lead to things getting ugly very fast."

"That's assuming that there actually are Fairy Tail humans in there and not some type of animal like there was with those Clipper birds," Mad-Eye noted.

"You will help us break them out, won't you?" Lisanna pleaded. "Both the birds and the Sphere? If Tenroujima really is in this world then the birds should be taken back there to where they belong."

"It will be difficult to do that," Kingsley pressed his fingers together and bit his lip. "The Ministry is supposed to be our ally but the situation right now is rather difficult. We will need to find a way to help you without exposing ourselves and our activities to them. Just violently breaking them out would only make things worse."

"Nevertheless, we shall do our best," Dumbledore agreed. "In that, and in searching for your other missing companions. But, there is one more vital piece of information that I feel you must know about our world. From what I saw in your world, you have something akin to a Dark Lord, correct? The man named Zeref?"

All three Fairy Tail members paled suddenly. "Oh gosh!" Lisanna clapped her hands to her mouth. "That's right! After Acnologia and this mess we… we forgot about Zeref! What could he have been doing to our world in the six years we've been away?"

A dead silence fell over the room as the Fairy Tail mages all looked at one another in horror. Gray in particular was clenching his fist and looking like he was fighting an urge to try breaking the dining room table in half. He knew better than the others the horror that Zeref's work could cause - images of the destruction that Deliora had caused to his town and countless others flashing through his mind.

Eventually Dumbledore picked up the thread. "Perhaps when you meet with the ghost of Mavis you can ask her - I got the impression she has an idea of what's been happening during the time you were frozen away. And I will put as many resources as I can into finding a way for you to return to your home as I said. But I must ask you to bring your mind away from Zeref for now, and learn about our own Dark Lord. We call him Voldemort. And right now, I fear what he may do as and when he finally gets word that you and your friends exist."

After another explanation about Voldemort and his actions, during which the name Harry Potter was dragged up several times, the three Fairy Tail members digested it in silence for a moment. Then, "Juvia thinks this Harry Potter sounds… like a brave soul."

"That he most definitely is," Sirius practically swelled with pride.

"And you think that this Voldemort could come after us, do you?" Gray asked, frowning slightly when everyone flinched when he said the name, but he'd already seen that happen quite a few times when Dumbledore had been talking and now knew why they did it (though he found it rather stupid).

"Almost certainly. To try and kill you if nothing else."

"Let him try," Gray snarled. "Fairy Tail does not go down easily."

"Indeed," Lisanna nodded firmly. "No matter what obstacles stand before us, Fairy Tail will overcome them."

"If this Dark Lord threatens Gray-sama Juvia will punch his lights out!" Juvia hissed. Gray clenched his teeth and grunted awkwardly but otherwise, to his credit, made no comment.

"I'm sure we'd all of us like to see that," Tonks laughed.

"We realise that you have no connection to this world and therefore no real need to help us," Arthur Weasley spoke up. "But… considering your unique abilities, if you ever did want to lend us a hand in our fight against him I think that I speak for everyone here when I say we would be… beyond grateful for your assistance."

"It will be dangerous though," Lupin informed them. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters are not to be taken lightly, even to people with your amazing talents."

Gray turned to Juvia and Lisanna, locking eyes with both of them in turn. No words were said between them, but there seemed to be some kind of silent communication going on between them, as one by one their faces shifted into firm, resolute and determined expressions. Gray then turned back around to address the room as a whole.

"We're grateful for your help. Really we are. And since we're strangers in this world we'll listen to you, and for now we'll let you call the shots. But let me make one thing clear - we're not part of this Order. We're your allies certainly, and I daresay there's a good chance we'll even be friends, but at the end of the day if we, Fairy Tail, decide to do something we feel is in our best interests, we're going to damn well do it. Whether you like it or not."

The Order collectively looked to Dumblefore for his verdict, but the Headmaster nodded. "I understand. You are not of our world - we have no right to tell you what to do. Though I hope that it won't come to that. We are as invested in your safety as you are."

"Good to know," Gray nodded. "Just making it clear that we're not your servants or subordinates. But, that said, as long as we are here in this universe…" he slammed his hand down onto the table and froze a large portion to leave several long, jagged lines of ice across its surface. "We'll do whatever we have to do to protect it and kick this Voldemort guy to the curb."

"Absolutely!" Juvia cheered.

"As if we'd do anything else," Lisanna grinned. "And trust me when I say, the rest of our guild will all agree on that score."

"And you haven't seen what we're really capable of yet," Gray smirked.

Grins and other types of wide smile were breaking out all over the room now but Dumbledore merely smiled contentedly. "Thank you," he said simply. "It is much that we ask of you but… thank you for agreeing to help us."

"Not a problem," Lisanna nodded. "But, when can we see Wendy?"

"Shortly," Dumbledore nodded. "Sirius, why don't you show them to their new rooms for now while we wrap up the rest of the meeting and then as soon as its over I will take you to see Wendy."

"Sounds good to Juvia," the rain woman smiled.

"Come on then, I'll take you upstairs," Sirius got up and began to lead them towards the door.

"I'll go with," Tonks declared, hurrying after them and falling in step beside Lisanna. "Wow, now I really know I made the right decision in not turning you over to the Ministry. You guys are freaking awesome, you know that?"

"Thank you," Lisanna blushed. "But trust me, wait until you see the really powerful members of our guild."

"I very much look forward to meeting them all," Sirius voiced from the front of the group as he took them out into the hallway. "Um… you'll have to excuse the decor of the house. It's not that pleasant. Suffice to say the people that used to live here were, not the best people in the world and redecorating is taking forever."

"It certainly is rather creepy," murmured Juvia, before a sudden crash behind her made her jump.

"Oh, Tonks, not again!" Sirius cried as he saw she'd tripped on the troll's leg umbrella stand again and brought it thudding down to the floor beside her loudly.

"Why can't you just move the bloody thing and…" Tonks was cut off by the loud scream as suddenly a pair of curtains were flung open and the livid portrait of Mrs. Black began screeching at the top of her lungs, like normal, causing the Fairy Tail members to clap their hands over their ears and almost fell over at the sudden shock.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Gray bellowed.

"FIENDS! MUDBLOODS AND FILTH! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE THIS INSTANT! FREAKS!" the painting howled, pointing straight at Juvia. "YOU'RE BRINGING IN BLUE-HAIRED WEIRDOS NOW! YOU'VE SOILED THIS HOUSE'S REPUTATION FOR TOO LONG, YOU DISGUSTING VERMIN!"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP, YOU REPULSIVE HAG!" Sirius roared as he thundered over to try and pull the curtains back over the portrait.

"AAAGH! JUVIA'S EARS!" Juvia wailed.

"WHAT IS THAT!?" Lisanna shouted.

"I AM THE RIGHTFUL OWNER OF THIS HOUSE!" Mrs. Black was practically foaming at the house. "LEAVE NOW AND NEVER DISGRACE MY HALLWAY AGAIN! HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS ALL OF YOU!"

"SHUT THE F*** UP!" Gray roared, slamming his hands together. "ICE MAKE: WALL!"

Sirius leapt back and Mrs. Black screamed as suddenly her entire portrait was covered from top to bottom with a thick layer of ice, cutting of her screams instantly. The quiet was almost as deafening as the noise but Sirius blinked a few times and sighed in relief.

"Now that is a handy trick," he said. "Shame that ice will melt eventually."

"Only if you put fire or something else hot close to it," Gray grinned. "Otherwise that should stay there for a good long while."

Sirius stared at Gray with his jaw slack, for a moment before he said, "Seriously, Gray… I could kiss you right now."

Gray snorted but Juvia suddenly flared up and growled, "Kiss him!? Is Sirius-san another love rival of Juvia's!"

"Oh for crying out loud…" Gray smacked a hand to his face.

"This happen often?" Tonks whispered to Lisanna, pointing at the bristling Water Mage and the nonplussed Sirius.

"From what I know… all the time."

"Ah."

* * *

Gajeel grunted sourly as he paced over the rugged turf, kicking the rocks out of his way even it they were as big as he was. He'd been scouting around this place for hours now, always trying to find a way to get closer to the castle but always being pulled up short.

And his mood wasn't being helped by Charla's increasing fretting. While totally understandable, it was grating on his nerve - the white cat was desperate to head to the castle on her own and find Wendy since whatever was keeping Gajeel out seemed to have no effect on the Exceed, but Lily and Happy both pointed out that they should wait to have Gajeel for backup just in case the people of the castle weren't friendly. Lily himself was not really in a condition to fight right now. His burns were not healing as well as they normally would. Perhaps there was some magic in that dragon's fire that was causing its effects to last longer.

The thought made Gajeel want to backtrack and beat the crap out of the dragons himself but Mavis pointed out to him that these dragons didn't know any better. They were not like Metalicana. They were just animals here.

Speaking of Mavis she was currently nowhere in sight, meaning Gajeel and the Exceed were skirting around the castle by themselves for the moment. But that didn't last long, as the ghost suddenly hovered into view and alighted on the ground before the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Tell me you've found a way in," Gajeel murmured.

"Not exactly," Mavis shook her head, her long blond hair swaying rhythmically behind her. "My analysis of the wards leads me to conclude that the castle is completely surrounded by them just as we suspected. I've also been able to conclude that there are a few places where you would be able to get through them unimpeded, the tunnel into the lake that Wendy used being one of them. Of course that one we cannot reach and I have not yet located any of the others. But, I believe I have located a weak spot you might possibly be able to get through."

"Then lead the way," Charla pressed immediately. "We can't waste a single second."

"Charla's right. Let's go!" Happy lifted into the air and shot off.

"Happy… it's that way!" Mavis called out before he could get far and pointed off to the cat's right.

"Oh…" Happy grinned sheepishly. "I knew that."

Gajeel bounded after Mavis so hard his feet were cracking the ground whenever he passed over rock, until eventually Mavis pulled to a stop and pointed ahead.

"I can only assume that that's the main entrance," she said, pointing to a set of large metal gates set in a high stone wall - a long dirt road winding across the ground towards it and through it and two statues of boars with great sweeping wings sitting on the columns flanking the gates. "The wards are a little weaker here, presumably because they had to let people in at this point while the rest of the castle is better protected to prevent people coming in from unexpected angles.

Gajeel marched forwards towards the gates and said, "Alright then. I'm going to try smashing my way again!"

"No, that still won't work," Mavis shook her head. "I've analysed the defences here and although the magic here is quite different to what I'm used to I am able to discern some of it. There's spells woven into the gates to prevent them from being forced open, smashed or knocked off their hinges. Similarly there are defences designed to keep people from climbing or flying over them or the walls on either side of them, and even protection against tunnelling underneath. Clearly whoever wove those wards only wants those gates to be opened with the use of the right key.

"Well then, how is Gajeel supposed to get through here?" Charla asked.

"Do you think that if you unleashed your full power, Gajeel, you might be able to break through the spells as well as the gates?" Lily asked from where he was clinging to Gajeel's shoulder.

Gajeel said nothing for a moment, but then a wide, savage grin spread out across his face. "Geehee! I dunno," he claimed. "But I bet I have a way in that these wards don't block."

And he marched straight up to the gates, cracking his knuckles as he went. Mavis and the Exceed watched him silently, wondering what he was going to do. Gajeel stopped right next to the gates and took hold of the bars in his hands, inspecting them shrewdly.

"Wrought iron," he laughed. "Piece of cake. And I was getting hungry anyway!" And he suddenly lunged forwards and sank his teeth into one of the bars. The iron splintered under his fangs and broke, leaving Gajeel to chew and swallow noisily before taking another bite, then another and another, attacking the bars in front of him almost at random and starting to create a hole in the gate.

"Of course," Happy grinned. "No way that anything made of metal is going to stop the Iron Dragon Slayer."

"Wow, I guess the wards were not prepared for this," Charla noted.

"No, indeed they are not," Mavis laughed. "I don't think that whoever cast them ever thought to cast something to prevent someone from eating their way through their doors."

Gajeel cackled slightly as he gripped another bar in his teeth and munched his way merrily through it. In practically no time flat he'd created a hole large enough for him to step through as long as her both ducked and raised his legs. Gripping the bars that remained he quickly pushed his way through the hole, encountering no resistance whatsoever.

He was in.

"Take that, wards," Gajeel laughed. "I told you you couldn't keep me out. Come on, you lot. Let's go find Wendy."

"Right behind you, Gajeel," Happy cheered as he whooshed into the air and followed Gajeel through the hole he'd made, Charla and Mavis right behind him as Gajeel bolted up the path.

Towards Hogwarts.


	10. Redfox, Red Hair

Well, sorry about that folks but considering I was on holiday I'm sure you can let me off for not uploading last week. So, let's just consider last week a week off and I'm back to the schedule as planned today. So, here we are with my next chapter and now the number of chapters is in double digits. And the fun can truly start to begin soon.

* * *

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 10:- Redfox, Red Hair**

* * *

"Do we really have to do this?" Ron muttered as he trudged down the corridor, rubbing at his eyes in an attempt to keep them open. "All the teachers are always telling us how much we need to work hard and pay attention for our OWLs this year and surely a decent way of doing that is to actually get a good night's sleep."

"It's our duty as Prefects, Ron," Hermione chided him. "You should consider it part of the privilege. Prefects help the staff by patrolling the corridors to ensure the younger students obey the curfew - that's the way its been since the concept was introduced to the school."

"I know, I know. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for being a prefect but it's just… I dunno… I feel like I could do without this part. I'm tired and I don't reckon anyone else is out of bed anyway."

"Says a boy who has snuck out of the dormitory at night many times for various reasons."

"Well, yeah, but never for any bad ones, right?"

"Well… I suppose not, surprisingly. But just because you and I never disobeyed that particular rule without a cause doesn't mean that everyone else will. And that means we have to help uphold the rules."

"Yeah, I suppose," Ron sighed. "But is it weird that I still feel like I should be creeping around so that I don't run into Filch or something while I'm out here? Speaking of which, when does Filch get any sleep anyway? He's always patrolling the castle at night. What does he do - take naps every now and then during the day?"

Hermione laughed slightly, but shook her head. "You really shouldn't say things like that in a place where Filch could be around the corner and hear you."

"I guess, but its not like he could do anything. I reckon the guy knows that none of the students like him anyway - he doesn't seem to care what they think. Wish we'd brought the Marauder's Map with us though. We could see where… hey, there's an idea! Maybe we should ask Harry if we can bring it with us next time we have to do this. That way if anyone's sneaking around out here we can just head straight to where they are and lynch them or something."

"That's… actually a pretty good idea," Hermione ran a hand through her hair. "Why didn't I think of that? It could be a really useful tool. Though I can just imagine the look on Sirius' face if he ever found out that we were using the mischief making tool of the Marauders to catch mischief makers."

"He'd be horrified," Ron grinned. "Bet Lupin would approve though. He was a Prefect wasn't he? I wonder if he ever used it for that reason."

"He might have tried, but I imagine Sirius and Harry's dad might have tried to stop him if he did. But then again, they were probably the ones breaking the curfew anyway so I don't know."

"Maybe we should ask him next time. Wonder what he would have done if he ever caught them?"

"What will you do if we happen to catch Fred and George out here?"

"Um… side with you?" Ron said uncomfortably, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

"I bet you will," Hermione rolled her eyes slightly. "Anyway, we should probably split up a little now so we can cover more ground. You want to head out and check around the Entrance Hall and the greenhouses or do you want to search around the first and second floors?"

"I'll take the greenhouses," Ron yawned. "Maybe a little fresh air will wake me up. I still can't believe we have to do this until bloody two in the morning."

"I really don't know what you're complaining about since you probably caught up on all the sleep you're missing in History of Magic this morning."

"…True but still…"

"Like I said, Ron. All part of the privilege. Meet back here later, okay?"

"Yeah, alright. Um… what do I do if I do catch anyone out of bed again?"

"Deduct points off them and send them back to their dormitories off course."

"But what if they're from Gryffindor?"

"Deduct points off them anyway?"

"Seriously, you want me to deduct points off our own house? Isn't that just like… punishing myself as well as the ones disobeying the rules?"

"It's what Prefects do, Ron. You wouldn't hesitate to deduct points from other houses so you can't hesitate to deduct points off your own."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess so. But still, if I do catch anyone I hope they're from Slytherin. Anyway, see you later."

* * *

Gajeel had to admit that he was seriously impressed by this place. The closer he got the more real it seemed to get, and he found himself standing at the edge of a large sports field of some description, though what in the world they played here with those strange hoops he couldn't even begin to guess. But Wendy's scent, while a little faint, was definitely here.

The only trouble was, it didn't seem to lead anywhere.

"Gajeel, what's taking us so long?" Charla wrung her paws together.

"Look, I'm doing my best, alright?" Gajeel snapped, a little more angrily than necessary. He hadn't been able to smell Wendy around the front doors so instead of marching right in the a building that could have anyone or anything inside he'd headed down to the lake to try and pick up where Wendy could have got out, and indeed he had found Wendy's scent by the boathouse and followed it up here with no trouble at all. Except that her scent had now seemed to have vanished into thin air.

"Look, the girl's scent moves around the pitch a little bit, and I can definitely smell her clearly wherever she went, but it doesn't go anywhere. The only scent trail there is is the one she used to get up here from the lake. It's just… gone cold."

"But it can't just go cold, surely," Charla protested. "It has to go somewhere."

"Well, I'm telling you it stops here. And there's no other scent of anything I can pick up that indicated she could have flown away or something. The scent just stops."

"There was some kind of fight here," Mavis suddenly said. "Recently."

"Fight?" Happy turned to look at the ghost. "What kind of fight?"

"I'm not sure. But certainly some kind of scuffle. Look - there are marks in the turf that look very much like something crashed into it dotted around the place. And that's not forgetting the fact that those stands up there seem to have been damaged somewhat. It seems its mostly been repaired now but from the look of it I'd say the damage was quite extensive when it was made. And rather recently too."

"You… you think Wendy was attacked?" Charla's paws clapped over her mouth.

"What kind of coward would attack a lost and confused young girl without provocation?" Lily bristled angrily.

"I dunno," Gajeel thumped a fist into his hand, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "But I'm done snooping around. Now, its really on." And he suddenly barrelled out of the door to the pitch and hurtled across the grounds towards the castle, an angry snarl set across his metal-studded face. Now he was well and truly pissed.

"Gajeel! Wait!" Lily cried as he tried to follow after him but gasped and fell to his knees - his back panging at him painfully.

"I'm with him," Charla whooshed off after the Iron Dragon Slayer. "If they've hurt Wendy, whoever they are…"

"Charla, wait up!" Happy hurtled in her wake while Lily pulled himself back to his feet and started to try and follow when he suddenly found himself gently being lifted up in small arms. He looked up at Mavis, who smiled warmly as she picked him up, carefully avoiding touching his back and motored off after the others.

Gajeel really didn't have a plan of action, but he had rarely ever needed one before. He was just going to bust his way into that castle and rampage through it until he found some answers if that was what it took. It was always what he had done before and usually it worked pretty well for him.

But, as he got closer, his nostrils started picking up another scent - the smell of another human. Another human that just so happened to be walking along past the greenhouses. Gajeel altered his course, homing in on the scent with eyes blazing, a loud roar escaping from behind his teeth as he barrelled in towards the unfortunate soul.

Every muscle in Ron's body stiffened when he heard the terrifying bellow, his imagination immediately conjuring up an image of some massive werewolf or maybe even a dragon as he whirled around, eyes wide and fumbling for his wand. But even as he was dismissing those ideas as ridiculous the stone wall next to him exploded into dust and a viciously snarling humanoid shape burst through it in the same instant, seizing Ron's already reeling body by the front of his cloak and slamming him back against the greenhouse so hard it was a wonder they didn't both go crashing through the glass, although the glass did fracture into thousands of pieces and shower to the floor.

And thanks to the faint light of the greenhouses that was always on even at night, Ron got a very good view of the clenched fangs, twisted snarl, red eyes and wild black hair of the man standing before him.

"Where is the girl!" Gajeel roared into the face of the ginger-haired boy he'd got hold of.

"What the… gah… who are…?" Ron went white as a sheet, his body feeling like it was trying to got stiff as a plank and limp as a sheet at the same time.

"Wrong answer!" Gajeel bellowed and flung Ron sideways to land sprawled on his back on the stonework, thankfully clear of the broken glass. "I'll ask again, where is the girl? What have you people done with Wendy Marvell?"

"Who?! I don't know who that is… who are you?" Ron babbled slightly as he scrambled backwards, Gajeel advancing towards him as he seized his wand and frantically searched for some spell he could try and use - he knew how the Stunning spell worked but he'd never used it before or tried it. Damn, he should have been practicing it alongside Harry last year when Harry had been preparing for the Triwizard Tournament.

"I am the Iron Dragon Slayer!" Gajeel snarled. "And I'm looking for the blue-haired girl that found herself at this castle yesterday - now what have you done with her!"

"I dunno her! I swear!"

"Hoh? Not talking, huh? Well, maybe this will loosen your tongue!" Gajeel raised his arm and suddenly morphed it into his giant, chainsaw-like Iron Dragon Sword - the Tetsuryuuken - and glared menacingly at Ron.

And Ron took one look at the long blade that comprised Gajeel's arm and slumped backwards, eyes rolling into his skull as he fainted dead away. Gajeel grunted in annoyance and stepped forwards to look down at the boy, nudging him with one foot to see if he was faking it. But then he spotted a little badge pinned to the front of the boy's cloak and he bent down to examine it.

"Prefect?" he murmured. "What the bloody hell is that supposed to be?"

"I think you probably could have handled that a bit better," Charla said from where she was standing on the top of the wall with Happy, while Mavis and Lily were just arriving. "That boy looks about fifteen or so. I doubt he's in charge of the place."

"I know he ain't in charge of the the place, but he might know something."

"Sounds like he didn't to me. And you terrified the life out of him," Happy rubbed the back of his head. "That would be enough to get me to talk unless you wanted to know where I keep my stash of fish… wait a minute… it's been six years - MY FISH WILL ALL HAVE ROTTED! NOOOO!"

"Is that all you ever think about?" Lily muttered.

"More to the point, Gajeel - do you smell Wendy anywhere around here?"

"If I did then I would have…" Gajeel started before he suddenly faltered, his studded brows lowering as his nostrils twitched repeatedly. "Wait a minute… I… I think I'm… getting something."

"You smell Wendy?" Charla perked up. "Where? Where's the smell coming from."

"It's faint but its…" Gajeel suddenly stopped when a musical trilling noise filled the air, the clear notes seeming to waft in from all around them and causing them all to turn their heads in several random directions almost comically to try and locate the source.

But it was Happy that quickly gasped and pointed up to the top of the greenhouse. "Look! Look at that!"

All of them swung around to face the same direction and beheld a rather large, red feathered bird standing on the roof above them, its beautiful plumage almost seeming slightly luminous in the half light of the greenhouse. It cocked its head to the side as its gaze seemed to wash over all of them at once and it raised its wings to sing out another greeting.

"What is that?" Lily asked.

"It is not a bird that I am familiar with," Charla replied.

"Nor I," Mavis agreed. "But I sense great benevolence coming off it. Whatever it is, it is definitely intelligent. And, I would wager, friendly."

"And it's where the smell of Wendy is coming from," Gajeel noted, stepping forwards and sucking in a deep breath through his nose. "Yep, definitely the source."

"WENDY TURNED INTO A BIRD!" Happy cried. "I THOUGHT THAT WAS LISANNA'S THING!"

"SHE DIDN'T TURN INTO A BIRD, IDIOT!" Gajeel roared back before forcing himself to regain his composure. "But she did touch this bird. I'd stake my life on it."

"Um… please, Mister Bird - do you know where Wendy is?" Charla asked imploringly, her eyes shining with hope.

Fawkes the phoenix trilled again and lifted himself into the air without even flapping his wings, curving over the heads of his audience, turning around and bobbing his head.

"Well, if that's not an indication to follow him then I don't know what is," Lily noted.

"Come on then. Let's move!" Gajeel bolted after the bird, the others close behind. Happy zipped downwards to grab Gajeel and hoist him up into the air in pursuit of their new companion. Fawkes wheeled around and swooped low to the ground, flapping just ahead of the party and leading them back over the greenhouses and out towards the lake again, leaving the unconscious Ron groaning on the ground, just starting to regain his senses.

And it was at this point that Hermione arrived on the scene, having heard some kind of commotion going on from the first floor and, deciding Ron might need some help, hurrying out to see what was happening. When she spotted the youngest Weasley brother lying prone on the ground not far from some shattered glass and a smashed wall, she gasped and darted over to him.

"Ron! Ron, are you okay?! Wake up! Wake up, Ronald!"

"H'mi'ny?" Ron mumbled as he blearily opened his eyes, before he suddenly remembered exactly why he had fainted and yelled, bolting upright and seizing his wand, looking around wildly for his attacker.

"Ron! Ron, what happened?" Hermione gasped. "Why were you lying on the ground?"

"Hermione… there was… there was… long black hair… like some kind of demon… the scariest… he… his arm… sword… arm turn sword… he… he just… out of nowhere…"

"Ron, calm down! Tell me, what happened!"

"Didn't you see him?" Ron cried wildly. "Didn't you… there was a man… and he… Hermione… his arm… it turned into a sword!"

Hermione blinked. "Ron, this really isn't the time for a joke."

"I'm not joking! He smashed through that wall and started screaming at me about some girl and then his arm… where did he go?"

"Ron, are you sure you weren't… dreaming…?" Hermione questioned.

"Dreaming? Hermione, do you think I dreamed someone smashing that wall in? That one, right there, that's been smashed?"

"I'm not saying that something didn't happen but… Ron, why would someone turn his own arm into a sword? If he wanted to threaten you or something, all he would have to do is threaten to use the Cruciatus Curse or something and transfiguring your own body is extremely complicated and dangerous and…"

"Hermione, you don't get it," Ron said earnestly. "He didn't even use a wand. His arm just… switched from being an arm to being a sword. Just like that, right in front of me. No incantation or anything."

"But… what… that's impossible, Ron. No magic like that exists."

"I know what I saw!"

"I… I'm sure you do. And I'm not saying I don't believe you but… there must be some explanation. Some hallucinogenic magic maybe or… well, I don't know. But the point is I'm sure it wasn't what it looked like."

"That was no hallucination," Ron shook his head stubbornly. He grabbed me by the cloak, he smashed me against the bloody glass. That guy was real. Through and through. I know it."

Hermione bit her lip - none of what Ron was saying made any logistical sense to her at all. So she simply sighed and said, "Well… regardless of what happened or didn't happen we should find a Professor and report this. At the very least some act of vandalism happened here."

"And at the very worst, which it is, there's a sword-wielding maniac running around here!" Ron agreed as they hurried back towards the castle. "You should have seen the guy, Hermione. He was huge, muscled… covered in metal studs… his eyes were red. Just like Harry said You-Know-Who's were…"

Hermione looked across at Ron sharply. "You're saying that you saw…"

"No! No, not that. It wasn't him. But… I don't know what it means… that guy was not a normal wizard, whoever he was, Hermione."

"Well, whatever the case, you were definitely attacked by something," Hermione murmured, looking ahead and focusing on the path to the front doors once more.

* * *

"I don't get it. Where's he taking us?" Charla was practically whimpering as they swept low over the surface of the lake, looking back over her shoulder at the castle that they were notably getting further and further away from. "Isn't Wendy in that place?"

"We don't know for sure," Mavis pointed out. "Remember, her scent disappeared. It's entirely possible she was magically transported somewhere else."

Fawkes keened musically at this, almost as if he was replying in the affirmative.

"But you know where she is, do ye, Flame-bird?" Gajeel asked, to which Fawkes looked back at him and chirruped, but distinctly nodded his head.

"Flame-bird?" Happy asked. "Why would you call him that?"

"He smells like fire. A little bit like the Salamander."

"Oh… I… I wonder where Natsu is right now. If it took us this long to find Wendy even after Wendy was part of our group at the start…"

"Oi, none of that, blue cat! Salamander will be fine. He'll bull his way through any situation that he faces without thinking his way through it in the first place like he usually does. He don't need you to be fretting about him, alright?"

"Yeah… yeah, I know… wow, I'm hungry, I wonder how many tasty fishies there are in this lake…"

"AND DEFINITELY NONE OF THAT! YOU TRY AND CATCH A FISH WHILE YOU ARE CARRYING ME AND YOU ARE DEAD!"

"AYE SIR!" Happy squeaked. Mavis laughed, knowing Gajeel wasn't serious but now unable to stop herself from picturing him being dunked into the water. She also decided not to mention that they had actually passed through the wards around the castle again, but it had let them all out just fine. It seemed they were mostly one-way wards designed only to keep people from getting in easily.

"Wait…" Gajeel suddenly lifted his head, nose twitching again. "This… this smell… yes…"

"Is it Wendy…? You smell her again?" Charla asked immediately.

"Believe it, white cat! And it's getting stronger!"

"Look, there's buildings across the lake," Lily pointed ahead. "Some kind of village I think."

"Then that's where we're going," Gajeel grinned.

Fawkes led them down over the street of Hogsmeade, the scent getting stronger in Gajeel's nose with every passing second. Most of the windows in the village were dark - all the businesses having closed for the night and most people having gone to bed. Even the Three Broomsticks was quiet. But there was one business that was, for the moment, still open.

And it just happened to be the building that Fawkes stopped in front of.

"This is it!" Gajeel growled as Happy set him down. "She's in there!" And without another word he thundered to the door and slammed it off its hinges with a single blow, sending it flying into the room to crash against a table, and a couple of witches within shrieked and fell over.

"WHERE IS SHE!?" Gajeel bellowed at the top of his lungs, glaring at the few customers and the astonished barman. "TELL ME WHERE SHE IS OR I SWEAR I'LL BEAT YOU ALL BLOODY!"

"Where who is!?" cried one of the witches.

"Who do you think you are!?" cried the other.

"You wanna tell me what I want to know!?" Gajeel growled warningly, preparing to morph his arm into a club. "For the sake of your health, I highly recommend it."

"Get out!" Aberforth rounded the bar angrily. "Get out of my pub now, you halfwit! Or I'll throw you out!"

"Oh, you will, huh?" Gajeel's furious glare settled on the aged barman. "Well… we'll see about that, shall we?"

But even as he took a step closer, his intimidating entrance was suddenly ruined when Wendy suddenly hurried into the room from the back, took one look at the situation and screamed, "GAJEEL-SAN!" before dashing over and throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. "Gajeel-san! You found me! You came to find me!"

"Uh…" Gajeel looked down at her awkwardly, arms spread wide as if afraid of touching and breaking her somehow. "Yeah… yeah girlie, we sure did."

"It's so good to see you, Gajeel-san!" Wendy looked up at him, smile wide and eyes shining, evidence of tears pricking at the corners. "I mean I knew you were in this world somewhere but I was sure it would take longer before anyone found me."

"Don't underestimate a Dragon Slayer's nose, kid," Gajeel shrugged, patting her head a little but then looking even more awkward for it. "Though you left me a confusing trail sure enough. Anyway, got someone here that might want to see you. Just guessing, but I think she was worried about you."

"WENDY!" Charla seemed unable to contain herself any longer and whooshed in through the door, her glowing wings flaring as she made a beeline straight for the Sky Dragon Slayer tears streaming down her furry cheeks and her eyes round as saucers.

"CHARLA!" Wendy gasped and immediately seized her in her arms, spinning her round in circles a couple of times at arm's length before pulling her in tightly to her chest and holding her as if her life depended on it. "Charla… you made it. You made it!"

"Wendy, you're okay," Charla bawled into Wendy's dress. "Oh thank the gods you're okay. When that dragon knocked you off the cliff and you vanished from sight, I thought… I thought you… I was so scared that you might be…"

"Don't say it, Charla, don't say it. I'm fine," Wendy hiccoughed, now not even trying to stop tears of relief and happiness beginning to flow. "But I was so worried too… I didn't know what had happened after I fell off the cliff and I thought… maybe if… oh Charla, I'm so sorry. I was stupid, I was…"

"No, Wendy, you weren't," Charla sniffled earnestly, looking up at her. "If I'd been raised by a dragon I wouldn't want to believe it either. But that's not important. None of that's important. What is important is that you're safe and we're… we're together again… I feared sometimes that… we might have lost you."

"I'm not going anywhere, Charla," Wendy pulled the cat even closer. "And don't… don't you dare go anywhere either."

"I… I promise I won't. And I promise… I'll try harder to look after you. I promised I would and I… seem to keep failing."

"No, you don't. Don't you ever say that, Charla. You're the best guardian I could hope for. It's always me doing the childish and naive things that gets me in trouble, not you."

Charla chuckled and tried to hold back a happy sob at the same time. "You Wendy have got to be one of the least childish people your age ever. In any universe."

"Aye, that I definitely agree with," Happy piped up from where he and Lily were standing in the door, Mavis hovering over them.

"It must have been a horrendous shock to you to see the dragons acting like that after all," Lily nodded.

"Happy! Lily!" Wendy cried. "So good to see you too, and you Master Mavis though I thought you'd be alright for sure," she sniffed with a grin.

"We would have still been looking for you if we hadn't bumped into Gajeel," Happy grinned. "It was his nose that tracked you down after all."

"Thank you, Gajeel-san," Wendy beamed up at the much taller Dragon Slayer before bowing her head slightly. "I'll never forget this."

"Yeah, well," Gajeel shrugged. "If you really want to show thanks then you can start by healing Lily's back. Apparently real dragon fire isn't quite as easy to shrug off even for a tough Exceed like him."

"Oh gosh!" Wendy gasped and immediately hurried over to Lily, placing Charla down on the floor and staring in horror at the slowly healing burns over Lily's guild mark. She quickly held her hands up and began the healing process and Lily felt relief from the throbbing pain beginning to fade very quickly and he sighed in relief.

"Don't exert yourself, Wendy. They were already on their way to healing."

"No, it's okay. I easily have enough magic for this," Wendy assured him. "I'm amazed you kept going from such a blast though. It must have washed right over you."

"Takes more than that to bring me down, I assure you," Lily grinned a little lopsidedly.

"I think it would take less than that to bring me down," Happy murmured, a little despondently.

"Geehee! That's my cat! Toughest on the block," Gajeel grinned.

"So…" Aberforth Dumbledore suddenly announced in a slightly clipped, reminding everyone that he and the two witches were still actually present in the room and had witnessed all of that. "I take it that this lot are your friends… Wendy. One of them appears to have knocked my door down."

Wendy smiled sheepishly. "I'm surprised that's all he knocked down, Aberforth-san."

"Meaning what exactly?" Gajeel raised a brow.

"Gajeel, I think you know exactly what it means, and I think you can't really argue with it," Lily chided him.

"…True…"

"Anyway, yes, Aberforth-san, these are some of my friends from Fairy Tail. This is my closest friend and partner Charla, and the other two Exceed, Happy and Pantherlily. And this is Gajeel Redfox, my fellow Dragon Slayer. And this is Master Mavis."

"Master Mavis? Who are you pointing at, girl?" Aberforth looked around with a frown.

"He can't see me," whispered Mavis. "Only those with the Fairy Tail mark are currently able to see me."

"Oh."

"Dragon Slayer?" one of the witches scoffed. "You mean to tell me you've both killed dragons?"

Gajeel was about to growl at her and do something he might regret when Aberforth whipped out his wand and cast a spell over the two witches, which caused their eyes to go rather blank. "You two, out, now. Bar is closed," Aberforth instructed and the two witches dazedly turned and left, become lucid once again when they were down the street but not remembering anything that had happened since a moment or two before Gajeel bashed the door in.

Aberforth sighed and strode forwards, levitating the door up and reattaching it into its frame with a flick of his wand and a quick Repairing spell right as Wendy lowered her hands and said, "How's that, Lily?"

Lily flexed his shoulders and suddenly shifted into his battle form, which caused Aberforth to stumble backwards in shock and almost knock the door off again as he crashed into it. Lily lashed out a hand to grab his shoulder and steady him before twisting himself around painlessly. "I feel invigorated. Thank you, Wendy. At the risk of give a pun which I assure you is not intended - you are a marvel."

Wendy blushed and smiled. "It's my pleasure and my job to help."

"If I might interrupt," Aberforth huffed, recovering from his surprise at the sight of the giant cat and watching warily as Gajeel passed him his sword back. "I wasn't exactly expecting any more otherworldly visitors today. What exactly am I supposed to do with all you lot? I don't even remember the last time I bought cat food."

"Cat food? Ugh, repulsive stuff," Charla wrinkled her nose. "I could go for a cup of Darjeeling tea right about now."

"Darjeeling… we don't serve that kind of thing in this place," Aberforth grunted, almost sounding revolted.

"Oh? But they do have it in this universe? Well, that is a relief."

"I want fish!"

"Who's shocked? I'm not," Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"I wouldn't mind a couple of kiwi fruits right about now actually," Lily patted his stomach, stowing his sword back on his back.

"…Kiwi fruits?" Aberforth coughed. "Did I just hear that correctly? The enormous, muscled cat creature likes… kiwi fruits?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Well, it is if you can't eat anything else, though I can't imagine for the life of me why you wouldn't. We don't have kiwi fruits here. Or tea. Or fish. I don't like fish."

"You don't like fish!? WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOOUU!?"

"Happy… need I remind you that I don't like fish either?"

"I TAKE IT BACK, CHARLA! I TAKE IT BACK!"

"Dear God you lot are noisy," Aberforth sighed, before he caught sight of Fawkes perched on a nearby table. "Ah, I see my brother's pet has paid me a visit. Does that mean he knows you're here?"

It was at this precise moment that a whoosh of green flames roared into life in the nearby fireplace and Albus Dumbledore stepped out. It took him but a glance to see that the room not only had his own phoenix, his brother and Wendy, but also the three cats and another of the Dragon Slayers he had seen in Wendy's memories.

"Ah," he said, his face focusing on Gajeel. "Well now. This is a surprise."

"And that answers my question," Aberforth muttered. "He does now."

"Who are you!?" Gajeel growled, taking a defensive stance. "What was that magic you just did."

"Be at peace, Gajeel Redfox - I mean you know harm," Albus raised a steadying hand. "And before you ask, I know what your name is because Wendy has, to put it simply, given me a vivid description of you."

"…Ah…" Gajeel blinked, not entirely sure what to say next.

"Perhaps it would actually be better if you didn't assume that anyone who appears in the room is a possible threat, Gajeel," Mavis rested a ghostly hand on the big man's shoulder. "You already terrified that poor boy back there. Besides, I sense no malice coming from him whatsoever."

"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel muttered.

Dumbledore's eyes rested on Mavis for a moment, which gave the First Master pause for thought. She knew he couldn't see her, but she had the distinct feeling he somehow knew that she was there. Not that that surprised her. She could sense great power and wisdom coming from this man and she winced slightly when she realised he reminded her somewhat of Purehito, before he had become Master Hades of course.

"Dumbledore-san is the one that brought me here to where I would be safe," Wendy explained.

"Then you have our gratitude, Mister," Pantherlily placed a hand on his stomach and degenerated back to his small size. "For looking after one of our own when we were otherwise unable."

"Mine especially," Charla nodded. "Thank you."

"It is both a fascination and a pleasure to assist beings from another universe such as yourselves. But, I am delighted to find that this reunion between you has taken place because I believe I may be able to make it even bigger. Excuse me." He turned back to the fireplace and threw a piece of paper and a little powder into the fireplace and with a whoosh of green light the paper, somehow unburnt, was whisked away.

"What did you just do, Albus?" Aberforth glared irritably.

"Only sent a message to let the Order know that the coast was clear."

"And… who else?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I see you're still as sharp as ever, my brother," he chuckled before there was a yell from the fireplace and a man without a shirt toppled out and crashed to the floor behind him.

"Damn it, I'm not sure whether I prefer that or that Apparition thing," Gray muttered as he rolled onto his back.

"Gray-san!" Wendy cried.

"Gray!" Happy echoed.

"Hey, it's the Stripper Boy," Gajeel snorted.

"Huh?" Gray looked up, startled. "Wait… Gajeel, you're here too? And all the Exceed? I thought it was just Wendy that…"

"KYAA!" Juvia squealed as she was almost thrust out of the fireplace, her arms windmilling as she tried to stay up before failing and toppling down to land right on top of Gray, just managing to catch herself before their heads clunked together painfully. And the moment Juvia realised where she was and how close her lips were to Gray's she immediately went as stiff as a board, the two of them staring at each other silently for a moment.

"G…G…Gray-sama…" she murmured weakly.

"You can feel free to get off me any time now," Gray coughed pointedly.

Juvia blushed and stuttered, "Um… sorry… Juvia apologises for… for landing on Gray-sama…" but notably did not get up.

However, Gajeel's voice suddenly registering to her when he said, "Jeez, Juvia, at least get a room before you try and pull the moves on the Nudist King," snapped her back to reality and her head shot up, wide-eyed.

"Gajeel-kun! It's you, Gajeel-kun!" she bolted off Gray and ran across the room and Gajeel suddenly found himself swamped in a hug from another blue haired Fairy Tail girl.

Though this time he reacted a little more aggressively and cried, "Gahh! Get off me, ye crazy water woman!"

Juvia smiled and refused to do anything of the sort. "Juvia's happy to see you're okay, Gajeel-kun."

Gajeel tried to pry her off for a moment but Juvia's grip seemed to be more iron than his own in his case, obscurely. So he just breathed heavily through his nose and muttered, "Yeah… it's good to see you too, I guess, rain woman."

Juvia smiled into Gajeel's chest - as her only friend from before she met Fairy Tail, Gajeel was the only one who could call her a rain woman without upsetting her. Well, of course Gray could do it too if he wanted. Gray could call her anything. And despite Gajeel's aversion to anyone showing him affection, she knew how to read him and could tell he was actually greatly relieved she was okay.

And then Lisanna bounded out of the fireplace with considerably more grace than the other two, but she still almost knocked Gray over again because the Ice Mage had only just finished getting back to his feet. "Whoops. Sorry, Gray," she chuckled as she helped steady him. "Didn't mean to hit you. I…" She paused when she suddenly realised who was in the room. "Huh…?"

"Lisanna-san, thank goodness your okay," Wendy clapped her hands together before suddenly Happy whooshed over her shoulder with a cry of:-

"LISAAAANNNAAAAAAAA!"

"Everyone! Happy!" Lisanna exulted as she seized the blue Exceed and held him close, rubbing her cheek against the top of his head as Happy bawled his eyes out. "Thank the heavens, you're okay."

"Wonder what else is going to be thanked before the night is up," Aberforth muttered to himself, but fortunately neither Lisanna nor Happy heard him.

"Lisanna, you're back! You're safe. I was worried that we might lose you for another two years!" Happy cried. "Just after we got you back!"

"I know the feeling Happy," Lisanna smiled as she rubbed between the cat's ears affectionately. "I was having similar thoughts. But it's alright. We're together again now and we can make sure that it doesn't happen again, right?"

"Aye…" Happy sniffled, looking up at her with earnest eyes. "And you can help us find Natsu right? We need to get him back. Him and Lucy and Erza and all the others."

"Natsu's not here then?" Lisanna asked, her face falling slightly as she looked up at the room. All three Exceed were present and Gajeel and Wendy were both clearly here so she'd been hoping the third Dragon Slayer would also be around.

"No. We don't know where he is," Happy whimpered. "We don't know where any of the others are."

"Is this all from your group?" Gajeel asked.

"This is all, yes," Gray nodded. "Professor Dumbledore here told us that Wendy would be here when we came. We weren't expecting the rest of you though. There's nobody else here from the guild?"

"None," Pantherlily confirmed. "All we know is that they're somewhere in this universe."

"Yeah, we know that too, Lily-san," Juvia nodded.

Lisanna smiled sadly and looked down at Happy, holding him closer than even before. "Don't worry, Happy. We'll find him again. I promise. In fact, I'll more than promise. I'll make sure of it."

"Aye… me too," Happy nodded, as Lisanna stood up, still holding him in her arms.

"Well, with all of us here that makes eight Fairy Tail members," Gray noted. "Not even half of the ones that were on Tenroujima accounted for."

"How many of us were there again?" Wendy tried to count on her fingers.

"Twenty-one," Mavis replied instantly. "Twenty-two if you include me."

"Oh, that's right. We haven't introduced you yet," Charla noted.

"Introduced who?" Aberforth asked grumpily. "Is there some reason you're staring into thin air, White Cat?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Unless I am very much mistaken, there is an ghost that you and I, brother, can neither see nor hear hovering right there. And I believe her name would be Mavis Vermilion, would it not?"

"Indeed it would," Charla nodded.

"So, its true," Gray murmured, a look of awe crossing his face. "It really was you who saved us from Acnologia."

"Not merely me," Mavis shook her head. "I activated the spell certainly but I have very little magical power in this form. Certainly not enough to cast a Fairy Sphere big enough to contain the island. I used the bonds of friendship between you and drew on your own shared magical power to activate it."

"Well, regardless, your actions saved our lives," Lisanna smiled. "Who would have thought that even after all this time you'd still be watching Fairy Tail's back?"

"Juvia agrees. And Juvia wants to thank First Mavis for creating Fairy Tail. Without it, Juvia's life might still be miserable."

"More than my pleasure," Mavis said. "But let's see if I can work up what limited magic I do possess so that people besides those with the mark can see me." She extended her hands to the sides, closed her eyes and glowed briefly and suddenly, with a smoky *foof* noise she became visible to both the Dumbledore brothers.

"Ah, there you are," Albus smiled. "The pleasure is all mine, Master Mavis."

"Just how much more crowded is my bar going to get?" Aberforth moaned.

Mavis ignored the younger brother's protest and curtsied in mid-air. "Good evening."

"You are certainly not like any ghost I have ever encountered," Dumbledore noted. "All the ghosts at my school, and indeed every other ghost in this world, are utterly intangible, transparent and colourless."

"You have a school?" Mavis' eyes brightened slightly. "Oh wow. Would that be that castle back across the lake?"

"Indeed it would," Dumbledore nodded, and he didn't fail to notice that Gajeel was suddenly looking rather awkward.

Mavis, on the other hand, immediately beamed and said, "Oh wow, a place of learning. You must have a lot of books there. I like books. I used to read a lot of them when I was a child. I didn't really have much else to do for quite a while. Hey wait… do you have fairies in this world?"

"Yes, indeed we do."

"REALLY!?" Mavis gasped and spun around on the spot several times giddily. "You've seen them?"

"Many times yes."

"Can I see them too? I love fairies."

"Oh I'm sure you'll get the chance. In fact around Christmas time we gather them in the castle and allow them to flit around at their leisure."

"That's amazing! What's Christmas?"

"Oh, you don't have it? Have you perhaps heard of Yule instead?"

"Oh yes, we have that!"

"Well, we also call that time of year Christmas. And if you are still around by then I will ensure that the castle is filled with fairies for the occasion."

"YAY!" Mavis backflipped happily, before then her expression turned much more serious and she asked. "Do they have tails?"

"Ah yes, this was something I gleaned from Wendy - the name of your guild being that nobody knows if fairies in your world have tails because they have never seen them, meaning it is an eternal mystery and adventure. Well, I am sorry to inform you that in our world, they do not have tails. That are very much tailless."

"Oh, how interesting. But then again, magic and dragons between our two worlds are very different so there is no guarantee our fairies are the same as yours."

"Very true. Mister Gajeel, is there something that you want to say?"

"Er… yeah, you own the castle, right? Well… I should mention I think you need to fix your gates. And a wall and some glass. And I reckon one of the people there might need to be treated for shock or something. Heck, I dunno. The point is, I busted in. And then this bird came and brought us here before I started trashing things… more."

"You got in through the wards? Impressive. How did you manage that?"

"I ate through the gates."

"Excuse me, you what?" Aberforth coughed.

"Ah, I see," Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, indeed we didn't have any wards to cover that. Thank you, Gajeel - I will be sure to sort that out. But for now, more explanations may be at hand."

And that was how the the rest of the active Fairy Tail members learned about the existence of Voldemort and about the promise that Gray, Lisanna and Juvia had all made to help in the fight against him for as long as they happened to be in this world.

"That's just typical, isn't it?" Gajeel muttered, rolling his eyes. "You'd think after we got involved in sorting out Edolas we'd at least be able to stick to the problems of our own world but apparently not."

"You don't want to help, Gajeel?" Lily looked up at him.

"I didn't say that. I think it might be fun," Gajeel grinned toothily. "I was just remarking that this guild really does seem to find trouble no matter where the heck we go."

"It certainly seems that way, doesn't it?" Lisanna said wryly.

"Hold on a minute," Charla objected. "We're really considering this? I mean, don't get me wrong I'm extremely grateful for the help of the people of this world, especially in looking after Wendy. But this fight is no business of ours. Why should we put our lives on the line when we should be focusing solely on finding the others and getting home."

"Charla, that's not the way we do it," Wendy knelt down next to her. "After these guys helped us so much how can we not help them in return."

"They're asking us to help them fight a war," Charla shook her head. "If you want to repay a debt there are other things you can do to settle things, rather than throw yourself recklessly into danger."

"But Charla…"

"No buts! I won't have it!" Charla looked up with shimmering eyes. "This isn't the first time I thought I might have lost you, Wendy. And I only just got you back. You're not getting involved in a war. You could be… you could… I won't let it happen. I won't let you put yourself in danger, even for them!"

There was a moment of silence, during which everyone in the room stared at the white cat, who was shaking in barely suppressed fear. But not for herself. Wendy sighed slightly - Charla was never afraid for herself, but was always afraid for Wendy. And she couldn't really blame her. They were in a world they didn't know, facing a threat they didn't yet fully understand and could only rely on strangers to set them on the right course.

It was enough to make anyone worry for those closest to them.

But still…

"Charla… if you want to make sure I never get into any situation where I could maybe get hurt… I think we joined the wrong guild."

"She's right, Charla," Happy murmured. "Fairy Tail looks after its own most of all but we look out for all our other friends too."

"Indeed. And we've made friends here," Lisanna nodded. "To bail out on them now… it would be against everything we stand for."

Charla bit her lip and looked at the floor, saying nothing.

"You know they're right, Charla," Wendy whispered.

"…Yeah… yeah I know…" Charla wiped her eye slightly with a paw. "You're… you're right, I'm sorry. I don't like it but you're right. I guess… there's really nothing else we can do. I guess if we refuse we'll always be looking back, wondering what could have happened if we'd made a different decision."

Mavis smiled. She'd been right. Her guild really had grown into everything she had hoped it would be. Unimaginable levels of pride swelled within her as she looked at these youngsters. Her youngsters. All together because of the dream she'd had when she was younger.

"Well," she said. "It looks like you have yourself a deal, Mister Dumbledore," she smiled. "The Fairies will bring our light down upon these Death Eaters and show them that our world does not take any more kindly to Dark Lords as this one does."

"And it is greatly appreciated," Dumbledore nodded. "Come now though. It seems there are more introductions to be made tonight than I thought. The rest of the Order are waiting for us to return even now. We should probably get back before Miss Tonks falls asleep."

"Oh terrific, we have to go through the fire again," Gray moaned. "Why can't we just use a train or something?"

"We have a train but it would take nine hours to get back on it. And it's currently over there right now so it would take nine hours to get it to us first."

"…The fire it is then."

* * *

The rest of the night went rather swiftly for Fairy Tail and the rest of both groups got to meet each other, culminating in the Order calling Gajeel to demonstrate his Iron Dragon Slayer abilities which he did by cutting the entire dining room table in two pieces with a single stroke of his arm. Fortunately they were able to repair it quickly and the new Fairies were fully welcomed. Though Bill Weasley had to physically pull his brother Charlie away from Wendy, since he was over-excitedly plying her with questions about Grandine.

Arrangements were made for where they would stay and to most people's surprise, Wendy volunteered to stay with Aberforth at the Hog's Head. She said that, "He's a bit grouchy but I think he's a nice old man at heart and… I don't know… I feel like he could do with a bit of company. And I'll only be a… fireplace… away… wow, I never thought I'd say that."

Naturally Charla immediately wanted to stay where Wendy was and Happy wanted to stay where Charla was - a fact which made Lisanna giggle slightly. But everyone else was rather surprised when Gajeel also immediately volunteered to stay with Wendy, swiftly claiming it was because he thought the Dragon Slayers and their Exceed partners should stay together because "it makes sense that way." What he actually meant was that he was not about to leave Wendy without another Fairy Tail member watching over her. Only Juvia caught that subtext though, and she smiled, pleased at how Gajeel was coming to care more despite his extreme reluctance to let people know about it.

Aberforth had complained of course, but Gajeel's glare had quickly told him that either he was going to stay at the Hog's Head, or he would find a way to make Aberforth live at Grimmauld Place so that Wendy would stay too, possibly by destroying the Hog's Head entirely.

Mavis decided she would take turns staying at different places, but would stay at Grimmauld Place for now as she wanted to get to know the other three from her guild a little more for the time being.

But even as Fairy Tail were beginning to settle into bed at about half two in the morning and the rest of the Order began to head home with an information overload preventing them from getting much sleep, except Tonks, who was out like a light, Ron Weasley was still up, sitting in an armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room and still looking rather wide-eyed.

After his unfortunate incident with his unknown assailant earlier that night, they'd hurriedly found and reported what had happened to Professor Sprout, who had been rather angry at the damage to the greenhouse and had hastily fixed the damage before hailing the other teachers still on campus to conduct a search of the grounds for anyone dangerous, before sending Ron and Hermione back to the Common Room since that was one of the safest places they could be.

Hermione had given up trying to convince Ron to just go to bed a while ago, but had refused to wake Harry up to give him the news. Doubtless he'd be angry about that in the morning but goodness knows he needed all the sleep he could get.

"Look, I'm not denying that you were attacked by something but are you absolutely sure that you saw what you saw?"

"Oh yeah," Ron nodded. "I really don't see how it could have been a trick."

"There are certain spells that can cause hallucinogenic effects that aren't even felt when they hit you. Or maybe you could have been caught in the pollen of a Makumura plant. You were next to greenhouse four and that was the glass you smashed through as soon as you were attacked."

"Does that cause hallucinations?" Ron asked.

"It does, yes. We should be covering them at some point this year I think, but Professor Sprout always has to cast spells on days where the plant releases its pollen to stop people from getting affected when they go in. Maybe today was one of those days."

"…I dunno… if that was a hallucination it was a bloody real one," Ron shivered. "Okay, so maybe the whole arm turning into a sword thing might not have really happened but there's no way I imagined that guy."

"But how did he get through the Hogwarts wards?" Hermione murmured.

"Do you think he got in through the tunnel from the Shrieking Shack?"

"Ron, Dumbledore knows that You-Know-Who knows about that tunnel. Peter Pettigrew would have told him. I bet that tunnel will be heavily protected by now."

"Good point."

"But he was screaming about a girl, you said?"

"Yeah, he kept asking me where 'the girl' was. For a moment I thought he might mean you because he'd seen us both patrolling earlier and then attacked only to find me alone. But then he used a name… can't remember what it was… Wendy something… Are there any Wendy's in this school?"

"I think there's one in the second year Hufflepuff house, but I'm not sure. I can't remember everyone's names."

"He sounded like he thought we'd done something to her."

"You think this man thought _we_ were the bad guys?"

"I dunno what the heck he thought. All I know is I'm not gonna sleep tonight after all."

Hermione opened her mouth to say more before there was a sudden flash of fire over the table, which made them both yelp and almost fall backwards. But suddenly there was a piece of paper and a long red feather lying on the table. A feather that both of them recognised as belonging to a phoenix, giving them a clear message as to who sent it.

Hermione picked up the paper and read aloud from it, "Mister Weasley. I am terribly sorry for the misunderstanding that occurred outside today. I'm afraid that the man who accosted you outside the greenhouses was actually one of a few that I hired for extra security to the school this year as I am sure you know we may need. I can assure you this will not happen again, but I would appreciate it if this story did not become public knowledge."

"That Dumbledore's writing?" Ron asked.

"Definitely," Hermione sighed in relief. "Looks like there's nothing to worry about after all though. Extra security. That's a relief."

"Not so much of a relief when the security attacks the bloody students," Ron muttered. "And that still doesn't explain why he attacked me and why his arm became a sword."

"I maintain it was probably the Makumura plant pollen that made that last one happen. But if Dumbledore says its alright then I think it's alright, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess. Still… I hope I don't run into him again. I'm telling you, this guy was a nutcase. Dunno what Dumbledore's thinking… but then again, he did have a giant three-headed dog guarding the Philosopher's Stone. Wonder what happened to Fluffy anyway."

"Well, the point is that everything's fine," Hermione sighed. "Still…" she turned to look out of the window and the moon shining high above - just gone full a few days ago and the cycle beginning again. "Extra security might not be enough one day. One day an attack like that might be from a real threat. And we're not learning how to defend ourselves thanks to that… I refuse to call her a teacher."

Ron grinned widely, before his face became more sombre. "But what can we do? She won't let us practice spells."

"Maybe. But I'm beginning to think… we should… start taking matters into our own hands."


	11. What Will Come

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 11:- What Will Come**

* * *

When Harry woke up on Tuesday morning to find Ron so deep in sleep that he was hanging half out of his bed and didn't appear to notice, he could only laugh and roll him back onto the covers before he hurt himself. But when Ron woke up and quietly recounted the story of his encounter with the strange man last night, making sure the rest of the dorm couldn't hear him, the Boy-Who-Lived was, just as they'd predicted, annoyed that they hadn't woken up to tell him about it immediately.

"This isn't like in the summer when Dumbledore was telling us not to tell you anything, mate," Ron protested under Harry's angry glare. "I told you just now didn't I? But after what we learned, waking you up in the middle of the night wouldn't have made any difference."

Harry was still annoyed, but he'd calmed down a little by the time they joined Hermione in the Common Room and they were all walking down to breakfast together. "Well, I suppose its good to know that Dumbledore's at least taking extra steps to make sure that the school's kept safe, but why didn't he mention these extra security people at the welcoming feast like he normally would?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked. "It's most likely that the Ministry doesn't know about these extra security people. After all they refuse to believe that You-Know-Who is back at all so if they learned that Dumbledore was hiring men to protect the castle they might think that was an attempt to secure Dumbledore's grip on the school. Fudge already thinks he might be trying to turn the students into an army. The idea of extra security guards being part of an army isn't a far leap from that."

"Though its a far leap from sanity to come up with an idea like that in the first place," Ron shook his head. "And I thought Fudge used to be pretty decent. Now he's gone barmy."

"And he's got Umbridge toadying to his every whim here now," Harry growled slightly. "I suppose she doesn't know about these guys either."

"Dumbledore definitely couldn't announce that he was taking precautions against You-Know-Who in front of her, certainly," Hermione agreed.

"There's still things that really don't make sense though," Ron voiced. "I was thinking about it and… there's a lot of stuff that just doesn't add up. Like all the stuff that guy said. Demanding where this Wendy girl was, for instance. Why would a security guard charge in and demand to know where a certain girl was?"

"Maybe Wendy's his daughter?" Harry shrugged.

"I dunno man. The way he was talking it sounded like Wendy wasn't a student. And I remembered something last night - he said she had blue hair. Blue hair! When was the last time you saw a girl with blue hair at Hogwarts?"

"…Maybe he was drunk?" Harry asked as they started to cross the Entrance Hall.

"He seemed damn sober to me," Ron shook his head.

"Ron, you also saw his arm turned into a sword thanks to the Makumura plant pollen, remember? It really is entirely possible that all this stuff about a blue haired girl called Wendy was part of the hallucination that the pollen caused," Hermione pointed out.

"You think?"

"Do you have a better explanation?"

"Only that maybe Dumbledore's lying and this guy isn't extra security. But Dumbledore wouldn't do that… would he?"

Harry's face suddenly went a little dark, and now all three of them looked doubtful. They all knew it was true that Dumbledore and the Order were keeping them in the dark about certain things. Not only had he refused to let Harry have any information over the summer but the entire Order were refusing to tell him things about their secret operations, despite his protests and his wishes to become more involved. Was this something else they were trying to keep him from learning about? If the guy was on their side why would they feel the need to lie about him? Was he on their side at all?

"We should talk about this later when there aren't other people around," Hermione whispered. "In fact, we really should discuss that kind of thing in the hallway where anyone can hear us anyway. We need to keep things under wraps a little more."

"Fine," Harry murmured. "What have we got for first period again?"

"Double Charms. And then Double Transfiguration before lunch," Hermione replied instantly.

"Well, that's something at least. Definitely better than Monday," Ron yawned.

Breakfast was a rather sour affair for Harry, poking holes in his bacon as he brooded over his current situation. Why couldn't people just let him be more involved in combatting Voldemort? Surely he of all people had a right to know what was happening. He couldn't help but feel bitter. It was bad enough that most of the Wizarding World thought he was some kind of attention-seeking loony, but having those who didn't think he was a loony treat him like a child irked him to no end. Even if, technically, he was still a child.

And this latest development, learning about extra security people being hired for the school, made him wonder what else he didn't know.

"Something up, Harry?" said a voice, and suddenly Fred was sitting next to him, grinning merrily as he usually did.

"Course something's up, Fred," George settled into the seat opposite his twin and next to Ron. "Something's always up these days - Harry walks around with a face so long that at one point I saw him and thought that our family ghoul had escaped and come to the school."

"Har har har…" Harry rolled his eyes, but felt a slight smile tug at his lips. Fred and George Weasley were, at the very least, always able to lift the mood somewhat even when Harry felt at his most down. He'd been right when he'd given them his Triwizard Winnings last year - the world did need more laughs right now and the twins certainly knew how to provide them. "No, its probably nothing important."

"Detentions with Umbridge getting you down?" Fred asked. "If ever you need a couple of Puking Pastilles to foul it up for Toadface then we'll let you have a couple free of charge."

Harry grinned, but carefully moved his hand to make sure the twins didn't notice the fresh scars on the back of it from last night, though Hermione looked like she was torn between scowling at the idea of the Pastilles or wondering if Harry should actually try using one to avoid the horrendous detentions. But she just sighed and said, "It wouldn't do any good. You know her. She has it out for Harry - she might make him do extra just for being forced to miss one, even if she thought he was genuinely ill."

"You may be right. Speaking of her Royal Pinkness though, I heard that Professor Trelawney had a rough time in her inspection of your class yesterday," George voiced.

"Yeah, I almost felt sorry for the old bat," Ron agreed.

"Looks like she's feeling rather sorry for herself too, look," George nodded up towards the Staff Table. The others looked over too and their curiosity piqued when they saw Trelawney and Umbridge engrossed in a quiet conversation. Though 'conversation' might not be the right word because Trelawney was quite evidently rather distressed and appeared to be stumbling over whatever she was trying to say and flinching whenever Umbridge replied.

"Wow, its rare to see Trelawney anywhere but up in her stuffy tower," Ron murmured. "What do you think she's doing?"

"Probably trying to convince Umbridge that she's not the fraud that she probably made herself look like yesterday… and is," Hermione scoffed, turning back to her Daily Prophet. "Honestly, I don't know which one of those two disgusts me more."

"…Really, Hermione?" Harry gave her a pointed look.

Hermione hesitated before she sighed and murmured, "Alright, alright, Umbridge disgusts me more but Trelawney disgusts me too. Oh, look at this!" She splayed the paper across the table. "There's a report on some kind of… giant bird attack down in Hampshire. They reckon someone's been illegally experimenting on animals to create a new species."

The others craned their heads to get a look at the paper, blissfully unaware of the fact that the newspaper had actually failed to mention the presence of three young people with unusual magic at the scene since the Aurors were trying to hush it up until they had more information. But even as she scanned the article, Fred nudged Harry in the chest and murmured, "Watch out, mate. Here comes the thunderstorm."

Harry blinked, but a split second later he found out what Fred meant when suddenly Angelina descended on him, furiously screaming at him at pretty much the top of her lungs about how he'd managed to land himself in detention with Umbridge and therefore miss Quidditch practice for yet another week! Harry feebly tried to protest against Angelina's verbal bombardment but fortunately she was quickly hushed by McGonagall as the Head of their House hurried over from the staff table, deducting five points from Gryffindor.

But she too grew angry when she heard the reason behind Angelina's shouting. "Did you take in a single word of what I said last week about controlling your temper, Potter? Another five points from…"

"_The dance of the Fairies has begun!"_

Practically everyone in the entire room jumped at the sudden rasping voice that seemed to echo around the entire Hall, coming from almost every angle at once. Most of them were looking wildly around for the source, but Harry's eyes swivelled towards the staff table like laser beams. He knew that voice. He'd heard it once before in his third year, right after an appalling Divination exam.

Just as he suspected, Professor Trelawney had gone stiff as a plank, her mouth looking almost unhinged and her eyes behind her thick glasses rolling around and making her look eerily like a zombie. Umbridge had drawn away from her in shock as Trelawney continued speaking, slowly gaining the attention of the rest of the room as they realised where the voice was coming from.

"_It will begin with the lowering of the fifth Sphere. As darkness gathers, the Fairies will converge to join the fight of the Wizarding World. But the fight will not be an easy path, for they shall be met with fear and the darkness will rise to greater heights than ever to oppose them. Magic, new and old, modern and ancient, will clash together. Doorways will open. Old battles will be rekindled. Bygone evil will be unleashed - thirsting for revenge against that which imprisoned it. Alliances will rise on both sides. The skies will burn with the fire of Dragons and the land echo with the cries of beasts, devils and the dead. The war will begin… when the fifth Sphere diminishes."_

The silence of the Great Hall when Trelawney was so thick you could have used it is butter on the toast. The Diviniation teacher slowly seemed to regain her senses, shaking her head in slightly bewilderment before noticing that every eye in the room was on her and shrilly demanding, "What!? Do I have something on my face?" Before suddenly hurrying away from the table in a fluster and storming across the hall and out, probably to head back to her lonely tower.

Almost as soon as she was out of sight the entire room broke into fevered whispers. McGonagall, who looked rather pale, murmured, "Look, all of you… just keep the noise down, alright," before she hurried over towards Dumbledore.

Fred whistled slightly. "Well, I have to hand it to Trelawney, when she gets desperate she really goes all out. She never did anything like that when she made fake predictions in our Divination classes."

"Lucky break for you, eh, Harry?" George grinned. "She interrupted McGonagall before she could finish docking points off you."

"Honestly, what was all that about anyway?" Hermione huffed. "I admit that was an impressive piece of theatre but we all know she's a fraud. And of course she couldn't keep all the death and doom out of it, could she?"

"Hermione…" Harry said slowly. "I don't think that was fake. I think… that was a real prediction. Right then, she was acting just like she was when I heard her predict Wormtail's return to Voldemort's side. Exactly the same."

Despite the collective flinch at the name, Hermione blustered, "But Harry, really, come on. The woman's been predicting your death for the last two years and you're still alive. You know you can't take what she says seriously…"

"Look, Hermione!" Harry growled, shutting Hermione up with his tone of voice alone. "I know you don't like her, but I know what I heard her say that day. Everything she said came true. It wasn't just some crap that she said to make herself look all mystical. Even Dumbledore agreed with me when I told him about it. And she just gave another one, right there and now in front of us. Everything she just said… it was a real prediction."

A deathly hush fell over the table at his words, Hermione looking somewhat stricken, while Ron looked he was torn between being annoyed at Harry for snapping at her and worried about what the consequences of Trelawney's words might be. Harry caught his slightly accusatory stare and sighed. McGonagall was right - he really did need to reign in his temper.

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that. But it's true."

Hermione slowly nodded her head before nervously voicing, "But… if that prediction was a real one… all those terrible things she said would happen…"

"I didn't get half of it but… holy crap it sounded bad," Ron agreed. "All that stuff about dragons and beasts and bygone evil… what kind of hell is the Wizarding World going to come to. And what was up with all that stuff about fairies rising up to fight. You've got to admit that part is mental - fairies are useless at everything except looking pretty. That can't even fight each other properly."

"I don't know what it means," Harry muttered, clenching his fist and the cuts on the back of his hand going white. "But how much worth is school education going to be if half that stuff comes true? I should be out there! Doing something. Not sitting here at breakfast getting ready to go and learn how to make a cat howl like a wolf or whatever Flitwick will be teaching us today."

There was another brief silence amongst the group, before Fred murmured, "Looks like Dumbledore's taking it rather seriously too." And indeed McGonagall and Dumbledore were holding some sort of whispered conference.

"I bet the Order will be hearing about this before the day is out," agreed George.

"Be that as it may, Harry, we don't really know what the future holds for us," Hermione noted. "Maybe learning a new Charm isn't as important as saving the world, but right now that is what our future definitely holds. So come on… let's finish breakfast and get going."

Harry nodded slightly bitterly. But he knew he wasn't going to enjoy today. Trelawney's words were going to weigh far too heavily on his mind for that.

* * *

"Why the hell do I have to do this!?"

"I'm not having freeloaders living under my roof doing nothing but gulping their way through my food and drink. Don't pull so hard - you'll hurt her!"

"If the bloody thing tries to bite me again then I swear to all the gods out there that I'll chuck it through the nearest window!"

"You will do no such thing! Stop pulling so hard and she'll stop biting!"

"Sure she will. HEY GUH! OH, SHE DID THAT ON PURPOSE!"

"Well that's what happens if you pull too hard - you make them panic. Haven't you ever tried being gentle?"

"I'm the Iron Dragon Slayer! I don't do gentle!"

Wendy did her very best not to laugh as she watched Aberforth and Gajeel arguing as the elderly man tried to teach the reluctant mage how to milk a goat. And the goat had just panicked and bucked around, stamping its hoof right into the bucket of milk that Gajeel had already made and splashing the milk all over Gajeel's front.

"I can hardly believe I'm seeing this," Happy snickered. "Gajeel, of all people, milking goats. I just wish Natsu could see this."

"Though I have to admit, I am a little concerned for the goat's safety," Lily remarked.

"You could get over here and help me, you know," Gajeel griped as he glared at his Exceed partner.

"But my hands aren't built for milking a goat in this form. And my other form would just scare the poor girls," Lily grinned.

"Bastard," Gajeel muttered. Lily laughed.

"Amusing as this is, what exactly are we meant to do today?" Charla asked as she folded her arms. "Just sit around like a family of lobsters waiting for something to happen?"

"There's not much else we can do, Charla," Wendy pointed out. "Dumbledore-san said that he was going to try and think of a way for the Ministry to find out about us and not have them think we're a threat."

"Which might be hard to do considering the trouble we've already caused," Happy noted.

"Nevertheless, if it can be done, it should be," Lily agreed. "We'll have a much easier time if the official governing body of this world is on our side than if we have to skulk about in the shadows all the time. Besides… I may not have been in this guild long but I definitely got the impression that skulking is generally something most of us do very badly."

"Very true," Charla accepted. "But so is sitting still. It really does feel like we should be doing something more than just…" she suddenly stopped and looked up sharply, her pupils shrinking into dots as her eyes gained a rather vacant look.

A sudden flurry of images seemed to blur their way rapidly and unbidden through the white Exceed's mind:-

Some kind of massive explosion as men and women in long cloaks and pointy hats went running all over the place.

A woman with long dark hair and wearing chains that she didn't know grinning maniacally as the door to what looked like a cell was ripped off its hinges.

Natsu barrelling down a brightly lit hall of some kind with Gajeel and Wendy both right behind him, using their magic to sweep several startled, squat humanoid creatures aside and their faces all absolutely livid.

A young boy with dark hair and glasses angrily throwing throwing a red flash of light from his wand right at an ugly woman with a toad-like face dressed all in pink.

Juvia collapsing to the floor and thrashing about in what looked like unbearable agony while Gray, Tonks and Lucy looked on in horror.

Erza falling to her knees and clutching her head, wailing in what appeared to be utter horror and despair, tears streaming down her face and shaking violently as Cana and Sirius tried desperately to hold something back but not looking much better off.

A village of some description that had been practically levelled with smoke still rising from the buildings, the area littered with the bodies of the dead while a couple of dark figures she couldn't see moving away from the carnage through the smoke.

Several dozen men riding broomsticks and casting spells at each other madly before Laxus blitzed in and added his lightning to the mix, closely followed by all three members of the Raijinshuu, throwing the entire area into chaos.

A man with a pale face, slitted nostrils and red eyes laughing as he fired flashes of green light at a furiously dodging Elfman before Mirajane appeared in front of the man and threw a punch at him only for the man to vanish into thin air before she could hit him.

Lisanna pinned to the floor by some kind of giant, clawed foot and staring up in fear as what looked like the two oldest Weasley brothers and a woman with silvery hair she didn't know fired on whatever it was that had her pinned down.

A group of children in black robes fleeing down a hallway as several adults pursued them angrily before McGonagall suddenly lurched out of a door nearby and angrily started hexing at the adults.

And finally another vision of a woman with long dark hair she didn't know, but a different one this time and garbed in what appeared to be a long, black dress kneeling on stone and staring into a crystal, a smirk growing wide on her face as she looked up and seemed to stare straight at Charla herself. After this last one, the visions broke off and Charla fell back with a gasp and almost fell off the table, panting for breath and looking decidedly frightened.

"Oh… oh my gosh…" she whispered hoarsely to herself. "That was… that was…"

"Was that a vision?" Wendy asked hurriedly. "A premonition of the future?"

"What did you see?" Happy asked. "Did you see Natsu?"

"Yes I… yes, I saw him," Charla nodded slowly. "But not just him… I saw… I saw… oh gods… why do I get the feeling that all the stuff I saw then… was just the beginning?"

* * *

"This place… it's fantastic…" Charlie Weasley breathed as he drank in the sights around him. "Now this is a place where I'm sure I could quite happily settle down. And that tree! Man, if Professor Sprout got a load of that tree, she's probably die happy on the spot."

"Best not bring her out here then," Mavis smiled as she hovered nearby, looking out fondly across the island. "Though Sirius seems to be enjoying himself."

"He would be," Remus grimaced lightly as he watched the dog running around snapping lightly at each other's tails nearby. "After months of being cooped up in a house full of unpleasant memories, anyone would be."

When the group at Grimmauld Place had woken up that morning, Mavis had started talking with some of the remaining members about some of the more short-term plans for both Fairy Tail and the Order Lisanna had, naturally, been very quick to bring up the rescue of the Clipper birds from the Ministry. Though the Order remained adamant that probably the best way of getting the birds free was to try and befriend the Ministry somehow instead of doing something that would only make Fairy Tail look worse in their government's eyes, they had agreed to do their best to make sure the birds got back to their island safe and sound.

And in lieu of that, Mavis had volunteered to take a group to Tenroujima so they could see the place for themselves, which is where they were now. Mavis had been able to point out the island's exact location on a map she was shown despite the fact she couldn't pick out any of the other places they'd visited, and the group comprised of Remus, Charlie and Alastor Moody, all of whom were available. But since there was no chance of being recognised by anyone here, Sirius had been eager to come and this time nobody had denied him, which was why he and Lisanna was currently playing together.

"It's impressive, I grant you," Moody clunked over the stones, his eye spinning in his head to look up at the tree while the rest of him focused on Mavis. "But are you certain there's no chance of someone stumbling on this island by accident. That tree doesn't exactly strike me as something people won't notice."

"That is true, but there are spells woven around the island, raised by myself while I was still alive and held in place by the Tenrou Tree. Special magical filters ward people away unless they specifically intend on going there and if they do come in sight of it they usually don't notice it. They see it of course, but the magic keeps their minds from registering its presence."

"The principal sounds a little similar to a Fidelius," noted Moody. "But can anyone give the location of the island away to an enemy?"

"Yes, that they can."

"Well, perhaps its not as precise as a Fidelius then, in which only one person can give the location away effectively, unless of course that person is killed."

Sirius bounded back over and reverted back to his human shape, stretching his arms wide and grinning like a lunatic. "Oh, now this is nice. Wish this place had been around when I'd been on the run without using my lovely old family home. I'm pretty sure I could live here."

"Well, this is a place where all animals and all people with good hearts are welcome," Mavis smiled. "Which means that my answer is yes. Should the need ever arise, I give you permission to use this island as a base for the Order. There's no buildings here anymore though so you'll have to use a cave or construct something it you want a roof over your head but you may indeed use it."

"We appreciate it," Remus nodded. "But hopefully it will never get to that stage. Astonishing as this island is, it is rather out of the way, whereas Grimmauld Place is right in the middle of London, which means its more ideally located to responding to any Death Eater threats. But should Grimmauld Place ever become unusable for whatever reason, this will make a good back-up."

"As far as I'm concerned, Grimmauld Place is already unusable," Sirius scoffed.

"Unpleasant perhaps, but not unusable," Remus chuckled pointedly.

"What I wouldn't give to have a home like this though," Sirius murmured. "I dunno how the heck you'd be able to transport yourselves and this entire island back into your own universe, Mavis, but I'm half tempted to ask if I can come with. In fact, I probably would if there weren't still a few very important things to keep me here."

"Like Harry?" Mavis asked. She'd not met the boy but she'd already heard much about him.

"Like Harry," Sirius confirmed.

"Family is very important," Mavis looked up at the tree, smiling fondly as she felt nostalgia wash over her, remembering well the seven years that she'd spent living here with Zeira. "Even if that family is not yours by blood."

"Got that right," Charlie agreed. "Anyway, we should probably head back. We now know where we need to take the birds - now we just need to figure out a way of transporting them all here. Assuming we can find a way to get them out of the Ministry. Let's just hope that we can get that sorted soon. We should go - Kingsley will be waiting to escort you into the Department of Mysteries to get a look at that Sphere."

* * *

"Damn, this place gives me the willies," Gray murmured as he walked down one of the halls of Grimmauld Place, staring at the slightly macabre decorations on the walls, or rather doing his absolute best not to.

"Juvia doesn't think that Sirius-san was exaggerating when he spoke of how horrible his family was," Juvia shivered. "Sirius-san must have had a horrible childhood growing up in a place like this."

"I'm astonished anyone could grow up in a place like this at all. Or at the very least grow up and not become as twisted as the rest of the family," Gray muttered, pausing and grimacing as he belt a row of small and decidedly non-human heads on spikes nearby. "I don't even know what those are but whoever thought that would be a nice thing to put in the hall has to have gone round the twist."

"Those poor creatures," Juvia agreed.

"Shows what she knows," a grumbling voice from nearby made them both jump, and they turned to see a small, wrinkled… thing… with large and drooping bat-like ears and a long pointed nose just like row of heads. "Think they can come swanning in here, all talk of another universe and use my poor Mistress' house like a free hotel. Oh, that nasty brat's done us shame bringing in all these Mudbloods and blood traitors already but now he brings people who don't even belong in this world. People who desecrate the house even more and even freeze my Mistress' portrait. Slimy, foul alien scum tainting our very world with their unnatural magic…"

"Who the heck are you?" Gray demanded, glaring at the small thing as it continued its grumbling tirade.

"Oh, now its talking to Kreacher, poisoning his ears with the very noises it makes. Oh, it cannot go on. What other atrocities will they be bringing in next? What have they not brought in already?"

Juvia shivered slightly, under the sunken glare of this little creature, but she reasoned that he must be a resident of this house so she decided it might be best to try and get along. She knelt down in front of him and, smiling openly, she said, "Juvia is delighted to meet you, Kreacher-san. That is your name, isn't it? Juvia is sorry for intruding upon your house but Juvia is sure that if you get to know us…"

But Kreacher was bristling angrily and hissing slightly, "It thinks it can come into Kreacher's own house and mock him! Filthy water woman! Kreacher hopes it dies horribly from drowning - that would be ironic."

Juvia pulled back in shock, stung by Kreacher's words, and Gray immediately flared up and stepped up next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder and glaring down at the small humanoid thing. "How dare you talk to her like that! You call us filthy!? That's rich coming from something that doesn't look like its had a bath in decades!"

Feeling Gray's comforting hand there and having him come to her defence would normally send Juvia into a maelstrom of romantic fantasising but she was too shocked by Kreacher's violent reaction to attempting to befriend him to fully register it. "Ju… Juvia is sorry if she's offended you. Is there anything Juvia can to to make up for it!?"

"It's apology is still a mockery! What has old Kreacher done to deserve being derided by some blue-haired wench from another world!"

Gray snarled. "If you don't shut that mouth of yours right now I swear I'll…!"

"What's going on here?" Mrs. Weasley's voice broke across him as she hurried up the hallway.

"This thing keeps insulting us!" Gray growled. "I thought we'd had enough of that when we'd left that Jarvey behind."

"To be fair to the Jarvey, Juvia doesn't think that his insults were attempts to be mean… like Kreacher-san's."

"Who does she think she is, coming in here where Kreacher has lived his whole life and making fun of him, and then complaining to blood traitors when Kreacher defends himself," Kreacher muttered to himself. "Vermin and wizarding wastes, every one of them."

Mrs. Weasley sighed and said, "Just leave him. He won't listen to me if I tell him to stop. Come on dears, come down to lunch. I hope you're hungry because after all you've been through you deserve a good meal."

"But why did he get so angry at Juvia?" Juvia asked as they complied and followed her towards the stairs. "Juvia was only trying to be nice."

"I think… he may have thought you were making fun of the way he talks," Mrs. Weasley ventured. "Kreacher's a House Elf, you see. Many House Elves speak in the third person and I must say its rather unusual for a human to do the same, like you do, dearie. Out of curiosity, why do you choose to talk like that? Is it how you were raised perhaps?"

Gray raised a brow at this question. Despite having known Juvia for almost six months now that was a question that he'd never asked her or even thought to ask. He'd just taken it as a personality quirk, like Elfman's constant repetition of the word 'man' and not brought it up. But now he found himself rather curious to know the answer.

Juvia rubbed her arm lightly and said, "Well… Juvia… I mean, I never had any friends when she… I… was a child. Nobody ever wanted to be friends with J… me… because… I… couldn't control my magic for most of my life. Wherever I was, it was always raining. Twenty-four hours idea, seven days a week, for seventeen years. I never saw a blue sky. Nobody ever wanted me around, and those that tried to be my friend mostly gave up quite quickly, always sick of the rain I brought with me. Only Gajeel-kun ever tolerated me but he wasn't really close with anyone back then. It's possible even my parents gave me up because of it - I have no memory of them. I grew up in several orphanages, and was always being shunted from one to another because both the other kids and the staff wanted the sun to come back."

Mrs. Weasley had stopped walking and was staring at Juvia in abject horror. "Oh my goodness… you poor girl… that's… that's one of the most horrible things I've ever heard in my life."

"It's… it's okay… Juvia has… I have control of it now," Juvia smiled slightly. "And I have more friends than I ever thought anyone could have. But it was lonely those seventeen years, where I only had dolls for permanent company. With my dolls I could pretend that I was somebody else and that all the loneliness was happening to another girl. So I started referring to myself in the third person even when not playing with dolls to try and keep up the pretence. It didn't really work but… Juvia guesses the habit stuck. Even now, when she's happy with Fairy Tail."

Gray was staring at Juvia with something akin to admiration. He'd had a traumatic past himself to say the least, but his troubles had been more based around several specific events that caused him great pain to remember. But terrible as they were, he had dozens of happy memories to go with them. For Juvia to spend seventeen years living through the rain and the fact that most everyone hated her for it… he was amazed she'd had the strength to keep going all that time and still be able to become the cheerful and exuberant girl she was now.

Her character was stronger than he'd been giving her credit for.

Mrs. Weasley though quickly hurried forwards and wrapped her arms around Juvia, pulling her into a tight hug. She was shorter than Juvia so the water woman had to look down in surprise, but the redheaded woman murmured, "Even so, no child should have to go through what you have, without the love of family or friends. And let me tell you… I may not be your mother… but I can try my best to be one for you. If you want. There's always room for one more in the Weasley family."

Juvia gasped slightly, her heart swelling in her chest at Mrs. Weasley's kind words. She could feel tears pricking at her eyes as she slowly wrapped her arms around the shorter woman to hold her close. "Th…thank you… Mrs. Weasley. Juvia thinks that… she would like that."

Gray couldn't help but smile at the touching moment, waiting patiently for them to them to break apart so they could head down to eat again. His stomach, however, was not so patient and loudly rumbled. Mrs. Weasley and Juvia both laughed and broke apart, the former smiling while the latter wiped her eyes and sniffed happily.

"Come on, let's get going," Mrs. Weasley said. "Though Gray, I recommend you put your shirt back on."

"GOD DAMNIT!"

The Weasley mother shook her head slightly as Gray scrambled to put his shirt back on before she added, "Where's Lisanna? I'm sure she must be hungry too."

"She's probably still exploring the house," Gray replied. "I saw her heading upstairs towards the attic earlier."

"Towards the… oh gosh!" Mrs. Weasley gasped. "Oh my goodness, how could we forget to tell you!?"

"What? Tell us what?" Gray cried sharply but Mrs. Weasley was already hurrying back the way they'd come and up the stairs. Confused, the two Fairy Tail mages followed quickly behind her, racing up the stairs hard on their heels until they came to the wooden staircase that lead up to the very top floor. Mrs. Weasley bolted up it and threw the door open…

Lisanna looked up from where she was sitting on the floor and said, "Wow, you made me jump there. Is everything okay?"

Gray and Juvia moved in so they could see what was happening and blanched when they saw what Lisanna was sitting next to. They had thought the Clippers were big, but this bird was absolutely massive - the size of a horse easily. In fact… its entire back half seemed to be that of a horse, while its front half looked like some kind of giant, fierce-eyed eagle with grey feathers and a viciously hooked beak. It was currently lying down on it stomach, and allowing Lisanna to run her fingers through its feathers but as it beheld these strangers that had suddenly entered its room, it tensed and cawed at them, eying them beadily.

"Easy, easy," Lisanna murmured slightly, scratching him lightly beneath one wing. "They're friends."

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright," Mrs. Weasley sighed in relief. "I'm so sorry we forgot to tell you about Buckbeak. Good thing you knew how to approach a hippogriff."

"A hippogriff, huh? Is that what he is? I've never heard of them before," Lisanna smiled as Buckbeak lowered his large head down towards her and allowed her to stroke his beak, closing his eyes contentedly.

"You haven't?" blinked Mrs. Weasley. "But then… how did you know the procedure?"

"Procedure? What procedure?" Lisanna frowned.

"The one to approach a Hippogriff? You're supposed to bow to a Hippogriff and then if it bows back you're meant to approach it very slowly. If you don't do it right they usually attack. You mean to tell me you… didn't do that?"

"No. No, I didn't. I came forward cautiously of course but I didn't bow. I didn't know you should," Lisanna shook her head.

"But then… why didn't he…?"

Gray chuckled. "Lisanna's just got a way with animals. Always has. Most of the time they just naturally seem to like her. Takes a very aggressive creature to try and attack her."

"But why is he shut away in this house?" Juvia asked. "Shouldn't a big bird like him be out in the sky, stretching his wings?"

"That would be ideal yes, but poor Buckbeak here was labelled dangerous by the Ministry after he attacked a student at Hogwarts school. He was scheduled to be executed, before Sirius made his escape on him and now he lives here, where the Ministry can't find him."

"Labelled dangerous? Scheduled to be executed?" Lisanna looked up with wide eyes. "But then… what about the Clippers? What if they get labelled as dangerous?"

Mrs. Weasley gasped when she realised she probably shouldn't have said that, quickly remedying, "Well, I gather the student in question ignored the warnings of the teacher and deliberately provoked him. And I also gather he's a rather unpleasant boy who disliked the teacher but has a father who's very influential in the Ministry. I think it was his father who pushed the Ministry to act in such a manner. He has no grudge against the Clippers though so I don't think he'd intervene."

Lisanna grimaced. "But… if they do label them as dangerous…"

Mrs. Weasley hesitated before she sighed and murmured, "They will probably kill them, yes."

There were grimaces on Gray and Juvia's faces too now, before the former said, "And what about our friends still locked in that Sphere? What if they're labelled too dangerous?"

"…I really don't know. I wish I did."

"…We've got the get them out of there…" Lisanna murmured. "All of them - friends and birds. One way or another… we have to get the out of there. And if I ever meet the father of that boy… I swear I will punch him in the face."

"Blimey," Gray murmured. "You've got to be a bad person if you can make Lisanna angry."

* * *

Speaking of the father of said boy, Kingsley Shacklebolt was currently doing his best to ignore Lucius Malfoy. The long, blonde-haired man was standing not far away from him with his usual superior smirk, looking down his nose slightly at everyone else in the room as if he knew, with one-hundred percent surety, that he was better than them. And whenever he chipped in to make a comment, it was usually something that grated on Kingsley's nerves. Really, it was so frustrating to have the man - a known Death Eater - standing right there in the room and be unable to do anything about it.

Because when Lucius Malfoy appeared in the Ministry, he was rarely ever seen outside the company of the Minister himself. And said Minister was blindly refusing to believe that the Death Eaters were even in operation, let alone a threat.

And where were they right now? They were both with Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour in the Department of Mysteries, in the exact same room as the golden Fairy Sphere that had been found a few days ago, surrounded by several Unspeakables and a few more Aurors. Tonks would probably have been here too had she not been given the day off to catch up on her rest.

But there was another being in the room. Mavis was hovering just behind the tall Auror, her eyes locked on the Sphere shining in front of her. But of course Kingsley was the only one that could see her - she'd made sure of that. After they'd finished their business at Tenroujima, Charlie had escorted her into the Ministry on the pretence of going to visit his father, and then Arthur had taken her to meet up with Kingsley afterwards, and he, in turn had been able to bring her down here with the other Aurors.

"Can't you tell me anything more about all this?" Fudge asked as he twiddled his bowler hat in his hands slightly anxiously. "I need to know what these attacks mean and what this thing is supposed to be. If this keeps happening how long do you think we're going to be able to keep the information from leaking out. And how many people do you think will be angry with me for keeping that information concealed."

"We're doing our level best to track these people down, whoever they are," Scrimgeour promised. "All we know so far is that these strange occurrences seem to have begun after that meteor shower a few days ago. A meteor shower that resulted in this… orb. And a couple of my Aurors have reported that they saw that self-same mark," he pointed to the Fairy Tail symbol etched into the side of the sphere, "tattooed on the one of the strangers in Brockenhurst. There is a link between them. We just don't know what it is."

"Well, he's right about that," Mavis said, which made Kingsley have to try very hard not to flinch and make sure nobody had heard her because Mavis could scream at the top of her lungs and nobody but him in the room would hear her. "That is definitely one of my Spheres. And I sense… there are two life-forms inside it. Both human."

Kingsley couldn't answer her for obvious reasons, but he slowly inclined his head to show that he'd understood.

"Well, then what is this thing?" Fudge pressed.

"We've been running magical tests on it," said an Unspeakable. "But nothing we've done has made any impact on it. We even threw a combined Bludgeoning Hex at it and it simply took the blow without any sign of damage."

"Of course it didn't," Mavis grinned smugly. "The Three Great Fairy Magics are not to be trifled with."

The Unspeakable continued. "All we know is that its a powerful shield and that there is, in fact, something inside it. Something that is very definitely still alive. We can't tell what it is… but its there."

"Well, I want that shield to be disabled as soon as possible," Fudge huffed. "If whatever's in there is capable of speaking English then I have some questions I want to ask them. I want this whole mess cleared up quickly. Do you realise how much of a fool I will look if the public hears of these people with unusual magic running amuck and I am powerless to do anything about it? The people want a Minister who can ensure that they are safe."

"If I might dare to venture a suggestion, Minister," Lucius Malfoy suddenly spoke up for the first time in his typical slow and superior drawl. "I won't even begin to pretend I know what's happening either but all this… perhaps it is part of some elaborate scheme to specifically make you look like a fool in front of the people."

"Scheme?" Fudge asked sharply. "Who by?"

"Well, like I said I don't even know that this is true," Lucius shrugged smarmily. "But these attacks, these unexplained phenomena… they could be orchestrated by someone seeking to gain power. Someone… who wishes to take your seat at the top. Someone… who seems to want the public believe that there is a cause for fear. Someone… powerful enough to potentially know spells we can only ever dream about."

Kingsley bristled slightly, seeing exactly where Lucius was going with this but unable to intervene. Unfortunately, Fudge seemed to understand what Lucius was implying too and his eyes widened as he breathed, "…Dumbledore."

"Well, it's only a suggestion of course," Lucius seemed unable to keep the smirk out of his voice. "But has he not been spreading the lie that the Dark Lord has returned to power for the whole summer. You know as well as I do, Minister, that were the people to believe that story they might rally to Dumbledore in the hope he would protect them from a threat that didn't even exist. But you've been doing such an excellent job at exposing his lies to the world that perhaps he thought he needed to take things a step further. Perhaps he though… he needed to find of way of making sure the public really thought there was a threat… by making one."

Fudge gasped at the though, but Scrimgeour frowned. "I don't know. That doesn't sound like something Dumbledore would do. And more to the point these strange happenings don't sound like the kind of things the Dark Lord would do, and does not Dumbledore's story rest on the fact the Dark Lord is back? Even if he introduced a brand new threat, which I doubt, why would he make it so very different from the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters?"

"Who can work out the mind of such a man?" Lucius pointed out. "He is, I shall grudgingly admit, quite brilliant. Perhaps he has his reasons."

"Or perhaps everything you're implying is utter rubbish," Scrimgeour replied coolly, and Kingsley fought the urge to smile. Scrimgeour might not really believe Voldemort was back either but at least he didn't believe Dumbledore really was trying to gain power, it seemed."

"Enough," Fudge called out. "You have both… given me a lot to think about. I suppose we should adjourn for now but I want to be alerted the very instant that that Sphere…" he continued speaking, blissfully unaware of the fact that Mavis had just gasped, her eyes widening.

"What is it?" Kingsley dared to whisper through the corner of his mouth.

"The Sphere," Mavis whispered back. "It's power levels are dropping. Rapidly… it's time has come."

Right as she started speaking the Sphere suddenly flashed, drawing everyone's eyes. There were several more flashes, before the surface of the Sphere seemed to burn brighter and ripple like the surface of some strange orb of water… before it suddenly faded out of existence from the top down.

"It vanished!" Fudge acknowledged.

"Wands at the ready!" Scrimgeour cried immediately as all the Aurors, including Kingsley just because he had to, drew their wands and pointed them en masse at the space where the Sphere had been, which was still glowing with a brightish but slowly diminishing light. Everyone in the room was on tenterhooks, straining their eyes to see what had been inside when the light faded.

"I didn't expect this to happen," Mavis bit her lip as she strained to look as well. "What are we going to do now?"

What they eventually saw were two human forms lying on the ground, apparently unconscious - one of them male and the other female. But even as they all slowly began to lower their wands, the girl stirred, prompting them to raise them back up again.

"Nnnghhh…" Levy McGarden moaned as she pushed herself up slightly and massaged her forehead with one hand. "Whuthhapnnd? M'sure I wuz jrrsstt…" she rubbed her eyes slightly and looked up, blinking to try and clear both her vision and her mind, but at first only able to make out several tall silhouettes standing in front of her. "Guys?" she asked. "Gajeel? 'Zat you?"

And then everything swam into focus and she saw the multitude of strangers all pointing their wands at her. Immediately she snapped out of her haze and gasped, rolling onto her backside and scrambling backwards slightly, wide-eyed like a deer in the headlights.

"Who are you?" Scrimgeour demanded.

"What? What's happening?" Levy gasped, looking around at them all in shock. "Where am I? Who are you people? What happened to Acnologia and all my friends?"

"Those are all very good questions, Levy," the man suddenly said as he pushed himself upwards, recovering quite a bit quicker than the bluenette had. "And another good one is why are they all looking like they're about to attack us at any moment."

As the man pushed himself to his feet, several of the Aurors couldn't help but take a step back as they took a good look at him, taking in his long brown cloak, his heavily bandaged and scarred torso, his artificial left arm and leg and the sheer aura of power he seemed to exude.

"And I'd like to hear the answer to every one of them rather quickly," scowled Gildarts Clive.


	12. Phantom Fear

Well, looks like I'm back on my regular Friday schedule again, on the day where Fairy Tail manga chapters USED to come out right up until the point I started. Seems they've moved to Monday now for some reason, though I'll keep aiming for Friday. XD Also, well done **forgetfulperson** for noticing that who appears together in which Fairy Sphere depends on who was standing next to who in the circle they made when they were all holding hands. Hehehe. Thanks to everyone who's reviewing. I greatly appreciate your support. Also, many of you may have noticed that I've changed the title of this story. I hope you all like this alteration. XD

And btw, the things I mention in this chapter about Levy's past are entirely made up by me since we know very little about Levy's life before Fairy Tail. If we ever do learn about it I'll probably come back and edit this chapter to incorporate it.

* * *

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 12:- Phantom Fear**

* * *

"Are you saying, Dumbledore," Professor Dolores Umbridge was turning a rather horrible shade of purple as she stewed in her own bubbling anger. "That I should take the words of that woman seriously? That that… garbage… she spouted at breakfast today was an actual prophecy?"

"You can take it any way that you wish," Dumbledore replied lightly. "I won't deny that our dear Trelawney has always had, shall we say, a flare for the dramatic. I won't pretend to understand Divination. I was terrible at it at school. Sometimes I would make up some ludicrous stories of what I could see in the crystal balls just to see if the teacher would believe me, when all I could really see was swirling mist."

"If we could keep this on topic please, Headmaster," Umbridge huffed from where she was standing before Dumbledore's death, saying the last word as if he was physically sickening to do so. "We both know that your lies, your insistence that the Dark Lord has in fact returned to the world, haven't been bearing the fruit you hoped they would when you started them. Hoping that the masses would flock to your side like frightened sheep. But this is the most blatant and obvious attempt to inspire fear that you've ever done. Convincing that terrible excuse for a Seer to make up something like that in the middle of the Great Hall. It's so desperate, it's almost laughable."

"I did nothing of the kind. In fact I haven't actually spoken to Sybil for almost two whole months - I see her so rarely."

"Then you continue to deny it was a thinly veiled attempt on your part to scare the students away from their faith in the Ministry?"

"On the contrary I very much want them to have faith in the Ministry, though I would prefer it if the Ministry would help us take the necessary actions into ensuring their safety."

"So be it," Umbridge turned to flounce out of the office. "Well, just wait until Minister Fudge hears about this. We'll see what he thinks of this blatant attempt to seize power."

"I would actually be very interested to hear the Minister's opinion. But I must warn you, Dolores. There is a reason I hired Sybil to be the Divination teacher. She may be extremely hard to make sense of but sometimes her words do ring true. You might want to bear that in mind in this case."

Umbridge said nothing else. She merely scoffed slightly before strutting out of the office, leaving Dumbledore alone to his thoughts. As far as he was aware, four of the Fairy Spheres scattered around the place had already been lowered. Wendy and the Exceed had been the first. Gajeel the second. Gray, Juvia and Lisanna the third and the Clippers had been the fourth. And Sybil's warning had been quite clear… the war would begin when the fifth sphere was lowered.

Did this new prophecy nullify the old one?

No, he didn't think so. After all, there was nothing in this new one that suggested as much.

Still… when the fifth sphere was lowered… it seemed that that would be when things truly did kick off.

* * *

Even Lucius Malfoy's arrogant expression slipped and he found himself stepping backwards a little, eyes flicking towards the door to make sure his path to it was clear. The man standing before the Ministry personnel was taller than any one of them, and the way he squared his shoulders told them all quite clearly that he meant business. There was just something about that meant every one of them, even Kingsley, were trying hard not to wilt under his stony gaze.

Needless to say, Gildarts didn't have a clue what was going on. He had no more knowledge of the events that had led him to be in this place than any of the other Fairy Tail mages had when they'd awoken from their own suspended animation within the Spheres.

One moment Acnologia. And the next this.

It was enough to throw anyone off pace.

It was Rufus Scrimgeour that spoke first, clearing his throat a little and saying, "You… You are currently in the custody of the Ministry of Magic. We discovered the strange glowing Sphere that you were inside, which apparently fell out of the sky and brought you here until the Sphere dissipated just now. That means you… are our…"

"Please tell me that you are not about to say 'prisoners,'" Gildarts raised a brow, that one motion causing several of the Aurors to flinch slightly. "Because I'm not entirely sure that I would like that."

"Well… not prisoners," Scrimgeour actually found himself floundering a little. "I'm not sure there is a word for it but… we cannot allow you to leave until you've answered our questions. And there are a lot of questions."

"Indeed, like all the ones that my friend Levy just asked. Where are our friends? Where… is my… _daughter!?"_

The last word was growled out so forcefully that Scrimgeour took a step back as if he'd been physically shoved. Levy, who was still on the ground behind the S-Class Mage, frowned in confusion - not having heard that Gildarts actually had a daughter before. As she pushed herself to her feet, the atmosphere seemed to grow even tenser with both sides wondering if the other was going to strike out at them.

But before something could kick off, someone said, "They can't answer those questions because they don't know the answers." And both Levy and Gildarts' had their attention drawn to the girl with the long blond hair weaving her way hurriedly through the Aurors to the front without touching the ground with her feet. And simultaneously both their jaws dropped, gasping in disbelief. This time Gildarts was the one who took a couple of steps backwards and Levy almost fell over again, the both of them absolutely stunned.

For they definitely knew who this girl was.

"You… you're…" Levy stammered.

"You can't be…" Gildarts breathed.

"I can and I am," Mavis replied quickly. "But please, now is really not the time for questions. Listen carefully - those men behind me cannot see or hear me. They don't know I am here. I am invisible to all who do not have the Fairy Tail mark. Well, mostly, but the point is they don't know the answers to your questions so please don't do anything rash. You're not in danger right now unless you start something first."

"But… how is…" Levy gasped.

"Please, just listen to me. I'm quite real but you need to act natural. And calm… please just pretend that I'm not here because as far as these people are aware, I'm not." Mavis insisted, glancing back over her shoulder to where most of the rest of the room were giving the two mages strange looks now, wondering what was wrong with them.

Fortunately, despite his shock that the First Master of Fairy Tail herself - whom he recognised from when Makarov had shown him the photo taken to commemorate the founding of the guild - was somehow standing in front of him, Gildarts was able to recover quickly and suddenly chuckled, lowering his guard a little and giving the rather bemused Aurors a smirk.

"My apologies if I came off a little intense there," he grinned. "But look at it from our perspective - one moment we were under attack and then suddenly we're in a room with a bunch of strangers with all our friends missing with no knowledge of what happened in between. It's really no surprise we'd be highly strung, is it, Levy?"

"Um… oh… oh no, indeed not," Levy confirmed, forcing herself to look away from Mavis. "We're sorry to trouble you like this but… don't know know where the rest of our friends are? We're so worried about them. They could be dead for all we know!"

Mavis chuckled, recognising that while Levy was talking to the Ministry members, her questions was actually aimed at Mavis. But the ghost let Scrimgeour answer first to avoid confusing overlap.

"I am afraid we do not. We did not even know that there were people inside that Sphere until it suddenly lowered."

"Don't worry, your friends are safe," Mavis then answered. "All of them are alive for I cast the Fairy Sphere over you all to protect you from Acnologia's attack."

Gildarts and Levy both sighed in what might look like frustration, but which was actually profound relief, before Gildarts suddenly questioned. "And this Sphere… you say it fell out of the sky?"

"That's right. Care to explain that?" Scrimgeour asked.

"Events beyond my control unfortunately caused us all to be sent to another dimension," Mavis chipped in. "I had to split the Fairy Sphere up to keep it from falling apart on the journey."

Levy's eyes widened but Gildarts managed to contain his shock and keep up his casual and rather disarming smile, though even he was thanking the gods that the whole Edolas debacle had happened before the S-Class exam because his knowledge of that event made this news much easier to swallow. "Let me ask you, did more than one Sphere fall or was it just us?"

"There were multiple lights in the sky certainly," Scrimgeour nodded.

"Well, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what's going on," Gildarts shrugged his shoulders. "But my guess would be that those other lights contained our friends. That's good - it means they are probably safe too."

"Oh yes… my guess is they are indeed safe," Scrimgeour's face tightened slightly. "I haven't had the… honour… of meeting any of your friends yet as far as I am aware, but unless I'm very much mistaken… they've been making themselves known to us. And in a pretty big way."

"Scrimgeour, allow me," Fudge stepped forwards and, clutching his hat slightly, he drew himself up as tall as he could and still only came up to about the same level as Gildarts' ribs as he said, "I am Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic! And I demand to know who you are."

Gildarts grimaced slightly, for the name Cornelius reminded him suddenly of his deceased ex-wife, Cornelia, and that just brought thoughts of Cana back to the front of his mind. He ached to go charging out there to find her, but he trusted Mavis' word that she was fine even though he was still dumbfounded that Mavis was here at all.

Still, he quickly ordered his thoughts and held out his hand. "Gildarts Clive, S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail. And this is my young friend, Levy McGarden. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Minister, even though I've never heard of you before."

"Never heard of me?" Cornelius blustered without shaking the hand before him. "How is that possible - I am the Minister for Magic of Great Britain. How could you not know who I am!?"

"Maybe because I'm not from Great Britain?" Gildarts shrugged. "Wasn't trying to offend you - there's lots of people I don't know. Heck, I don't even know the name of the King of my own country."

"And what country would that be?"

"It's called Fiore. And my guess is you've never heard of it before. My guess is that most people you know won't have heard of it before." Gildarts finally lowered his hand, deciding that he didn't particularly want to shake this man's hand anyway.

"Questions about where you come from can wait," Scrimgeour stepped up next to the bristling Minister. "What's more important is learning more about who you are. For instance… that mark I can see on your chest, right there?" He pointed at Gildarts' left pectoral, where his guild stamp was located but mostly covered by bandages. "What exactly does that mark mean?"

"That?" Gildarts looked down and pulled his bandages aside slightly to reveal the whole thing. "That's the mark of Fairy Tail. Everyone in our guild has one."

"Here's mine," Levy spoke up - she decided to let Gildarts do most of the talking since he was probably better at this kind of thing than she was but here she turned around so that they could see the white mark on her left shoulder-blade.

"And what craft does this guild of yours practice?" Scrimgeour knitted his eyebrows.

Gildarts blinked a couple of times. "Magic…" he eventually said. "What else would we practice?"

"I see… well…" Scrimgeour's gaze hardened. "Ever since those lights appeared in the skies there have been a lot of strange people cropping up all over the country. And just yesterday one of our towns was attacked and strange magic users with that self-same mark were spotted at the scene, but eluded us before we could question them about who they were. If they bear that same mark, that means you know them, correct?"

"Indeed it does."

"And are you aware of the damage they caused?" Fudge cried out. "Are you aware of how much work was required to put right the things that they did and keep up the Statute of Secrecy?"

"Well, that sounds like our friends sure enough," Levy sighed slightly. Honestly, sometimes it felt like she was pretty much the only one in the guild that didn't destroy things on a regular basis.

"Whoa, whoa, don't take it out on us, buddy," Gildarts raised his arms slightly. "It's not like we were there. And honestly, can you blame them for being a little confused? After all, we are from…" before he could finish the sentence he suddenly spotted Mavis waving at him out the corner of his eye and slowly shake her head. Gildarts got the message - these people were not aware that they were from another world and it was a subject that would have to be brought up delicately so he simply said, "…a strange place, with no idea how we got here."

"I am _not_ your buddy," Fudge reddened slightly, but Scrimgeour started speaking again before he could go any further.

"Nevertheless, as you are apparently associates with these people we have to hold you accountable for their actions until such a time as we can find them ourselves. And we have no guarantee that everything you have thus far told us is the truth and I can definitely tell there's a few things you're not telling us. So… I suppose that means that you are our prisoners after all."

Levy groaned slightly and pressed a hand over her face. "Dear gosh, no matter what world we're in we just always seem to get in trouble with the authorities," she muttered.

Gildarts though raised a brow again, before giving a lopsided grin and spreading his arms out slightly. "Ah, come on, there's no need for that surely. We certainly don't mean any harm, and we really need to find our friends."

"I'm afraid that there is a need for it," Scrimgeour said primly. "We have to ensure national security, so I'm afraid just saying that you're not a threat is not going to cut it. And based on the kinds of things we've seen your friends doing, we cannot let you leave until we have no more questions for you and we're sure you've answered them all honestly. Please do not try to resist, or we will be forced to stun you and take you to a holding cell."

Gildarts exhaled in annoyance, glancing towards Mavis, who nodded at him.

"It's important that we get these people on our side if we can," Mavis told him. "It would be far less hassle for us if we could get on the side of this world's leaders. It's probably best if we just go along with this for now."

The C-Class mage heaved a great sigh and said, "Alright, alright, fine. We'll co-operate. Lead on and we'll follow."

Scrimgeour nodded and the Aurors quickly fanned out across the room to encircle the two Fairy Tail mages. Levy quickly drew closer to Gildarts, biting her lip a little nervously at this turn of events, but suddenly she felt a large hand grip her shoulder and squeeze it reassuringly. She couldn't help but feel reassured by Gildarts' presence. Honestly, if you had to get stuck with someone in an alternate universe, Gildarts was probably one of the best people to be stuck with.

"Where are you taking them, Scrimgeour?" Fudge demanded immediately.

"I was planning on taking them up to Level Two, Minister," Scrimgeour replied. "To place them in the Holding Cells of the Auror Office."

"And you intend to question them there."

"Indeed."

"Well, I must insist on a change to that plan," Fudge coughed. "When word of this gets out I want people to know that I was personally involved with ensuring their safety. Take them to a holding room on Level Ten. I will be back soon, so do not question them until I get back."

Scrimgeour wrinkled his nose, but nodded, "Of course, Minister." And he led the group out of the door, the Aurors surrounding the two Fairy Tail mages they could actually see to guide them in the direction of the lifts. Gildarts walked with his hand still resting on Levy's shoulder as if he was some mother hen keeping a child under its wing, but as that thought occurred to him he grimaced again, feeling like his other arm should be holding Cana in a similar manner.

When they reached the holding cell and Scrimgeour directed them inside he said, "I must ask you to surrender your wands to us."

"Wands? We don't carry wands," Levy blinked. "I thought people only used wands in the old stories or something."

"Oh did you?" Scrimgeour raised a brow. "Well, I insist that you hand them over and if you do not then we will be forced to search you for them."

"Is that a fact?" Gildarts turned to face the rest of the Aurors, most of which cringed under his heavy gaze. "Well, go ahead and search us because we have nothing to hide but I warn you… if I see a single one of you trying to cop a feel of my companion here you will not like the outcome."

"EEK!" Levy squeaked, looking like she was trying to curl into a ball. "I'm not sure whether you saying that makes me more or less comfortable about the idea!"

"Erm, actually we were going to magically scan you. Not… give you a pat-down," Scrimgeour coughed.

"Ah, well that makes sense," Gildarts chuckled. "Well, get on with it then."

Eventually the two of them were left alone, the search having turned up empty of wands, though they had found Levy's Light Pen and her Gale-Force Reading Glasses, which she kept at all times in magical pockets on the inside of her dress. She bit her lip as she was handed them over reluctantly, but after that, the two of them were shut in the cell and none of the Aurors tried to speak to them. Most of them were dispatched back to their offices but a couple remained outside as guards.

And one of those dispatched was Kingsley. He exchanged a quick glance with the mostly invisible Mavis, who nodded at him, giving him a silent message to tell the others what had happened when he had the chance.

"Well," Levy sighed to herself. "I always hoped I'd be one of the very last members of the guild to find themselves locked in a cell by officials like this. But, I suppose that it was only a matter of time."

"If it helps, I could bust out of here any time I wanted," Gildarts tapped the wall with one finger, causing it to splinter slightly but speaking in a low voice so the Aurors outside wouldn't hear what he was saying. "This cell doesn't have any magical cancelling capabilities like those of the Council."

"That is because the people of this world are generally rendered unable to use most strong magic without the use of their wands," Mavis said as she stepped over to them. "They don't have the same type of magic we do. To put it in our terms, almost every magic is a Holder-type magic for them."

"Like Lu-chan with her keys. Well, that makes sense considering what we learned about the magic of Edolas." Levy nodded, before she remembered that she was actually talking to Mavis and gasped, "But hang on… how is it possible? How can… how can you be here?"

"Yes, I'd quite like to know the answer to that one too," Gildarts turned to face her. "I take it you're a ghost."

"Indeed I am. It's nice to see members of my guild who actually know who I am without me having to tell them."

"Oh, I know all about you," Levy's eyes were shining slightly. "I've read every book in the Fairy Tail library and every word about you that's in there, along with every picture."

"You must like reading then," Mavis beamed. "I loved reading when I was alive. I suppose I still do though I haven't got round to reading many new things since I passed away. But I grew up in a library before I founded the guild so reading was pretty much the only thing I had going for me for some time."

"I love reading too," Levy smiled. "I guess it was sparked by my parents. They were renowned archeologists you see, and they uncovered all kinds of ancient ruins and made their living translating ancient writings so I got into it really young too. I could already read Gheel by the time I was six…"

Gildarts cleared his throat. "Much as I'm sure you'd love to compare notes about the things you've read, I think the current situation might be more important to talk about."

"Oh, right," Mavis chuckled, while Levy rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry… I just get enthusiastic about books, but you're quite right. Well, I'll tell you what I know so far. You see, when Acnologia fired his breath attack…"

And so it went that Gildarts and Levy became fully updated with everything that had occurred from the dragon attack to now. Levy, naturally, found it absolutely fascinating and asked a lot of questions along the way, clearly in awe about learning details of an entirely different culture. Gildarts was a little more sombre about it, and when Mavis had finished the big man murmured, "That's all quite a lot to swallow. But… for what its worth… thank you First Master for protecting us as you did. If that dragon had killed us all right after I'd discovered that Cana was my daughter that would have left a sour taste in my mouth in the afterlife."

"CANA'S YOUR DAUGHTER!" Levy gasped, almost falling over in shock at this news and her shout even attracting the attention of the Aurors outside. She blushed slightly at her own reaction before repeating, in a quieter voice, "Cana's your daughter?"

Gildarts smiled. "Surprised? Not half as surprised as I was when I learned it, I can tell you. But are you sure there's been no word of her yet, First Master?"

"Not yet. It's most likely she's still contained in another Fairy Sphere out there somewhere."

"I should be out there trying to find her," Gildarts sighed.

"Well, at least we know she's safe as long as she's inside one of those, right?" Levy piped up. "And its great news to here that Gajeel and the others that have already been released are safe too, right?"

"There is that," Gildarts nodded. "But you say we've gone and landed ourselves in the middle of another conflict against this… Voldemort guy?"

"That's right. And that's part of the reason why it would be better for this Ministry to be on our side if we can manage it. We already have one enemy. It would be better if we didn't have two."

"Definitely less hassle," Gildarts agreed. "Alright then, we'll play nice. But I could really do with stiff drink."

"Well, there's one thing that leans towards Cana really being your daughter," Levy murmured. Gildarts laughed.

* * *

"There, are you happy now?" Gajeel muttered venomously as he gestured to the three buckets of milk that he'd managed to finally wrestle out of the goats.

"Only three? They can normally produce eight," Aberforth shook his head. "You were still scaring them too much - when they're scared they produce less milk."

"Well then give me another bloody job instead of sticking me with this one!" Gajeel yelled, ignoring the giggles of Wendy and the Exceed from behind him. "Heck, I'd rather do the washing up than have to deal with them again!"

"Do the washing up!? Ha… like I'm letting you get anywhere near my cutlery. I'd quite like to end the day with the same number of knives and forks that I had when I started."

"Can't you just use your magic to conjure new ones!?"

"I could. But that's a hassle and I can't remember what the spell is."

"Well, how's that my problem? All I know is I'm not having anything to do with those damn…"

Suddenly the fireplace flared green and with a yell, Gray stumbled out of it and accidentally kicked one of the buckets, knocking it over as he fell the the floor and sloshing the contents everywhere.

"OH COME ON!" Gajeel roared. "THAT BUCKET TOOK ME AGES TO FILL!"

"Hello, Gray-san," Wendy said, more politely. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm not sure," Gray pushed himself to his feet quickly, clicking his shoulder. "One of the Order just got back from that Ministry place - the guy called Kingsley. He said that the Sphere inside the Ministry's done down."

"What!?" Gajeel gasped, milk forgotten. "Who was inside it?"

"It seems it was Levy…" Gray replied and Gajeel stiffened, eyes widening a little. "…And Gildarts."

"Gildarts!" Happy sprang up. "Gildarts is back! That's great!"

"What a relief," Wendy smiled. "Are they okay?"

"We think so. Luckily Master Mavis was there when the Sphere went down so she stopped them from doing anything like attacking the Ministry, but they're being held there for questioning. Looks like the Ministry might be about to learn about us."

"Well, Gildarts-san and Levy-san are great people. I'm sure they'll like them," Wendy noted.

"…I don't like this," Gajeel bristled slightly.

"What's wrong, Gajeel?" Lily cocked his head. "If you're worried about Levy, Gildarts will look after her."

"I ain't worried about her!" Gajeel denied rapidly. A little too rapidly. "It's just… I've got a bad feeling about this. In my gut… I dunno what it is… but I've learned to trust my instincts over the years and they're telling me now that there's reason to be concerned… Come on, let's go."

"Go?" Aberforth asked as Gajeel seized a handful of Floo Powder. "Go where exactly?"

Gajeel turned to give him a look, and smirked slightly. "Where do you think?"

* * *

It was perhaps half an hour after they'd been placed in the holding cell that noises from the corridor beyond told Gildarts and Levy that something was happening. They both swung around to face the thick wooden door of the room, which opened suddenly to reveal Scrimgeour looking rather disgruntled on the other side.

"Alright, it's time for questioning," he stated. "And I'm sure you can understand that the Minister wants to question the two of you individually. And apart. So, girl, if you'd like to make my job simpler, which would be nice, please come with me."

Levy stiffened slightly at the prospect. "Why? Why can't it be together?"

"That's just what the Minister wants, kid. Now, are you coming?"

Gildarts scowled slightly - he could tell what was happening. They were hoping that the small and defenceless looking girl would be an easier nut to crack than the grizzled, scarred man when it came to asking questions, and that they would be able to do it easier if they separated her from her only protector.

Still, he'd promised to play nice, so he said, "Levy, it'll be alright. I'm not going anywhere - I'll be right here when you get back."

Levy smiled gratefully at the reassurance before slowly nodding her head and stepping towards the door, which closed behind her with a low thud. She turned to see that Mavis had slipped out of the room as well and was hovering along behind her, so at least she still had someone watching out for her still. That allowed her to walk a little more confidently, even if Mavis was only a ghost.

But that confidence melted a little when the Aurors walked her into a large room with row upon row of wooden seats on three sides of it and a large space in the middle except for a single solitary chair that was set facing the front, where Fudge was sitting in his presiding seat. The other seats were also filled with several dozen men and women all garbed in purplish robes with a silver W on their left pectorals, the majority of them mostly bathed in shadows from the lights of the flickering torches on the walls, and all of them were staring at Levy with interest as she was marched towards the chair.

Once Levy was seated, the Aurors moved to the back of the room, barring the door just in case Levy tried to escape. But any thoughts of escape were quickly put paid to anyway because, just as Levy was about to speak she suddenly felt pressure on her arms. She looked down and gasped when she saw golden chains of some kind wrapping themselves around her wrists and elbows to pin them to the arms of the chair.

"H-HEY!" Levy gasped as she wriggled around slightly, wrenching at her sudden bonds and clenching her fists, her heart rate increasing rapidly. "What's this? What's going on?"

"Be calm, Miss," an authoritative voice came from a woman with a monocle and short grey hair in the seat to the Minister's left. "It's just a precaution to make sure you don't try anything."

"But I wasn't going to try anything!" Levy protested.

"Nevertheless, as I said, we must make sure," the woman replied sternly. "Or at least in this circumstance I have been told that we must."

"We do not know what we are dealing with here, Madam Bones," Fudge responded a little tartly. "Many of the things these people have said have made very little sense. But they are involved somehow in the strange events that have been happening recently, and this emergency session of the Wizengamot is here to find out how."

"Is this a trial?" Levy gaped. "But… but I haven't done anything wrong."

"No, Miss, it is not a trial. We will not be passing a sentence on you - we are just here to learn the truth," Madam Bones replied shortly. "If you have indeed done nothing then you surely have nothing to worry about."

Levy relaxed a little at that - a memory of that time Erza was arrested by the Council coming to mind. That had just been an arrest for show, to assure the public that the Council was on top of things and she remembered how this Fudge had said he wanted the public to know he was taking action. So this must be pretty similar. Thank the gods for that.

"Before we begin, can we offer you a drink?" Fudge asked. "We expect you to do a lot of talking, after all."

"Yes please," Levy licked her lips, suddenly realising in all the excitement just how thirsty and hungry she was. Well, if what Mavis had said was true it had been six years since she'd last eaten.

"Levy, remember that these people have no clue who we are," Mavis pointed out from where she was standing next to her, as an Auror brought a goblet forward and allowed Levy to take a few gulps from it. "The fact we're from another universe will need to be broken to them gently, which is why I haven't revealed myself to them yet because apparently their ghosts are different than ours. When they ask you questions about where you're from and what your magic is like, answer them truthfully, but then I'll need you to act like you're slowly coming to a realisation that you might not be in your own world. So we're mostly being honest with them. Okay?"

Levy managed to disguise a "Mm-hm," as a hum of appreciation as she finished the water and smacked her lips slightly. "Thank you," she said, as she looked up at the Minister.

"Alright then, let's get on with the interrogation. Weasley, are you ready?"

"Yes sir," called a skinny man with short red hair on the front row with a long roll of parchment and a quill.

"Alright then. Interrogation of unknown suspect on the tenth of September. Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley. Would the suspect please give her full name?"

"Levy McGarden," Levy replied dutifully. "Levy spelt with a Y."

"No middle name?" Madam Bones asked sharply.

"If I have one I don't know what it is."

"Very well." Madam Bones swished her wand, but when nothing happened she frowned slightly and fixed her piercing eyes upon Levy. "It appears that we have no witch called Levy McGarden in our records. Which is very interesting considering we are supposed to have a file on every witch and wizard in our country. Care to explain that?"

What Levy tried to say was, "I'm not sure. What country am I in?"

What she actually said was, "That would be because I'm from another universe."

This sentence was followed by an immediate gasp as Levy tried to cover her mouth with her hands, only to be pulled up short by the chains binding her arms. What the hell? Why had she said that? She hadn't meant to say that at all but somehow the words seemed to have strolling out off her tongue totally unbidden.

"Oh no…" she heard Mavis mutter. "They can't… they can't have!"

The rest of the hall was deathly silent, as if everything and everyone in it had suddenly been buried five-hundred feet below the ground. Every eye was staring at Levy with mixed amounts of shock and incredulity - evidently whatever they had been expecting Levy to say, that had not been it. Even the red-haired scribe was staring with an open mouth, allowing ink to drop off the end of his quill and spatter across the parchment.

Eventually Fudge coughed slightly and said, "Excuse me? Where… did you say you were from?"

Levy's brain was struggling with what to say next but her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own and she said, "From another universe. We call that universe Earthland and I live in the city of Magnolia, in the country of Fiore."

"You expect us to believe something like that do you?"

"It's the truth. All the members of my guild that have been running around causing problems recently are from Earthland." Oh Gods, what was happening? She hadn't meant to say that either.

Fudge and Madam Bones took a glance at each other as the rest of the hall broke out into whispers, before Madam Bones cleared her throat and said, "If that fantastical story is true, how did you come to be here now?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Apparently it was something to do with a strange dragon attack that sent me and my friends from my universe to your own," Levy gushed out, even after she'd tried to keep her mouth shut and remain absolutely silent.

"I… see…" Madam Bones asked. "Are we sure she wasn't given a Babbling Beverage?"

"No, quite sure," Fudge was leaning forwards a little, his eyes bulging slightly. "It was definitely Veritaserum that was put in that water. I saw it administered myself. Everything that she's saying… is what she believes to be true."

"You _drugged_ me!?" Levy gasped, shock radiating through her. Oh no! That wasn't fair!

Mavis' hand was over her mouth. She'd made a horrible miscalculation thanks to her lack of knowledge about this world. Truth serums did exist back in their world, but they were extremely rare, and were outlawed anyway. They certainly weren't allowed in trials. But evidently this world… had a very different set of rules.

What should she do? Should she reveal herself or would that just make it worse?

"It's possible there was a mistake in the brewing. Or that this girl is resistant to it. You know people can resist truth serum if they know how."

"Indeed they can… but I very much doubt that anyone seeking to lie to us would come up with a story like that unless they were incredibly stupid," Madam Bones murmured. "And I don't think this girl is stupid. She seems rather intelligent to me."

"P - Please… please understand… it wasn't our fault. We didn't ask to be here - it was a total accident," Levy blustered.

"Well… perhaps… this fantastical story… explains what your friend was talking about when he mentioned you were part of a guild of magic," said Fudge. "Magical guilds have not been around in our society since ancient times. Tell me about yours."

"Our guild's name is Fairy Tail," Levy felt tears appearing in her eyes as she continued to blurt out answers against her will, even though this was the kind of thing she would have said had she been asked about her guild anyway. "Guilds are where magic users, which we call mages in our world, can gather to find work when other people send requests to the guild for certain jobs with money rewards if the mage succeeds."

"You said the mark on your back is the mark of your guild? That means everyone in your guild has that mark?"

"Yes, and nobody else. It's forbidden by magical law for anyone to wear a guild mark unless they are part of that guild."

"You say that you have magic, yet you carry no wands. Do you not use them?"

"No, but we can use other magical items. We have two kinds of magic - Caster Type and Holder Type. Caster type magic is when the magic user channels magic out of their own bodies. Holder type is where they have to use special tools for the magic to work…"

"And what kind do you use?" Fudge seemed to be on a roll now.

"Caster Type."

"Which means you could actually still use your magic right now at this moment?"

"W… Well… my Solid Script Magic requires hand movements to pull it off so I can't really use it that well while chained like this… but I could still use it, yes…"

"Then that means… we haven't disarmed you at all. And your companion back in his cell can still use magic too," Fudge got to his feet amongst the hubbub that was breaking out. "Call in the extra security at once! Do it now!"

A couple of the Aurors hurriedly left the room, but Madam Bones choked a little and protested loudly. "Minister! Can't you see the poor girl is distressed and frightened? Bringing them in would only make the situation worse."

"Until we know exactly what we are dealing with here, I will not take any chances," Fudge growled forcefully.

"No, I really must protest. Don't you think this is a little extreme? She's just a girl that by all accounts doesn't seem to have done anything wrong…"

"We have to maintain our security as well as the security of others. If they can still use their magic that means they are still in a position where they could potentially harm us and I will not take the risk until we know exactly who they are and what they can do!"

"But we don't want to harm you," Levy screamed. "We want to be friends. We really don't want any trouble - we just want to find all of our friends again and then see if there's a way we can get back to…"

Suddenly the words died in Levy's throat and her entire body went rigid, stiffening up as if suddenly petrified. Her entire body suddenly felt as though it had been plunged into icy water, water that was seeping through her skin to chill her insides right down to the bone marrow. A horrible sense of despair began to form seemingly of its own accord in her gut, washing over her like a wave, as she felt every hair on her body stand up, her eyes wide, her mouth agape in a silent scream and feeling as if frost should be forming over her skin when it wasn't.

She faintly heard the heavy wooden doors behind her open again, and heard Mavis gasp slightly. Slowly, trembling without knowing why, Levy turned her head around to look towards the door out of the corner of her eye.

And she saw them. Four of them, gliding eerily, weightlessly, their towering bodies covered by long black cloaks that covered their entire form that billowed across the ground as if they didn't have feet, complete with a deep hood that covered their faces. Levy felt her eyes widening as they approached her, saw the Aurors backing away from them slightly as well, hearing the deathly quiet in the room as everything seemed to get darker and colder around her by the second.

Her heart was pounding in her chest but even it seemed to be feeling the cold that came with the creatures, and it practically stopped as it heard the horrible, unearthly rattling breaths that were coming from deep within the hoods of the… things…

And then a voice… in her head… a voice that wasn't hers, but that she remembered, creeping to the front of her mind unbidden…

"_Are you Levy McGarden?"_

"_Yeah… I am. Who are you?"_ suddenly her own voice replied, but it sounded younger, a little more high-pitched.

"_I'm… so sorry to have to tell you this… but its about your parents."_

Levy froze up even more if that was at all possible. Oh gods, what was happening? This conversation… she knew this conversation… and it seemed to ring ever louder in her mind while everything else seemed to fog up, her vision going dark, struggling to see, but at the back of her eyes she could only seem to make out a fuzzy image of the moustached man from that day.

"_There was an unfortunate incident at the ruins today. One of the passages that they were excavating… collapsed. There was a huge cave-in and… we spent hours searching for them, trying to dig them out, hoping they were alive but… I'm sorry. They didn't make it."_

"…_.You're… you're lying…!"_

"_I wish I was, child. I wish I…"  
_

"_NO! NO, ITS NOT TRUE!"_ She could practically feel herself trying to charge past him out the door only to be held back, feel the tears that had started to pour their way down her face. _"IT'S NOT TRUE! THEY'RE NOT DEAD! THEY'RE NOT! MUMMY! DADDY! COME BACK! COME BACK AND GET ME PLEASE! PLLLEAASSEEEEEE! MMUUUUMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY!"_

Levy was vaguely aware she was breathing heavily, and beginning to sweat despite the intense cold all around her, but she was unable to think clearly. She could barely even wonder why she was suddenly remembering this so vividly. She heard, as if miles away, Mavis calling her name. Heard Madam Bones booming, "Minister, she's having a violent reaction to the Dementors - they shouldn't be here," but all Levy could really focus on was the terror and despair that seemed to be coursing through her veins.

And that's when she heard it. The memory of when she'd learned of her parents deaths faded… to be replaced with the sound of cruel, harsh, cackling laughter.

"_Levy! Get back! Run for it!"_

"_We'll handle this! KNUCKLE PLANT!"_

"_GUYS NO! STOP! YOU'RE INJURED!" _she heard herself screaming as she dimly so the shape of Droy hurling several plant seeds to the ground, which rapidly sprouted out as plant fists, whooshing towards their target. Only for that target to dice the plants into pieces with a whirling leap and flurry of slashes from his sword before landing right in front of Droy and smashing him with the flat of the viciously spiked blade, and send him crashing into a nearby wall hard enough to splinter the bricks.

"_DROY!"_ Jet cried out as he suddenly shot around behind the shadowy man and pile-drove into the back of him with his Falcon Heavenward, only for a metallic clang to ring through the air as the man refused to budge an inch. Jet cried out as he stumbled backwards clutching what might just be a broken leg before their attacker wheeled around to seize him by the neck and whirl him around by it, sending him crashing into Droy just as the latter was trying to get up. And even as the two struggled to rise again, the attacker pounced on them and drove them through the wall entirely with a vicious blow to each of their chests with his two clubs.

"_No!" _Levy heard herself cry as her past self ran towards them while the attacker lifted both her teammates up by their necks and leered as he watched them struggle for breath. _"SOLID SCRIPT: STONE!" _ she tried to jump into the attack and conjured up a rocky version of the word 'stone' in front of herself, hurling it at him like a cannonball. Only for her to gasp in horror as he flung Jet and Droy into the path of the attack so it hit them instead, shattering to rubble and flinging them back down the street.

"_Geeheehee… how cruel for you to attack your own comrades like that,"_ the man stepped forward into the light a little more, revealing his long, ragged black hair, the studs over his face and arms and his terrible red eyes, staring at her like she was prey. _"And I thought you Fairy Butts were supposed to stick together or some crap like that."_

"_You'll pay for this. You'll see - we'll make make you pay…"_ Levy choked bravely before conjuring the word 'stone' again and throwing it at him once more. But Gajeel, the Phantom Lord S-Class Mage, charged straight into the attack and smashed it to rubble with a metal fist, thundering in towards her and slamming his other fist into her gut before she had a chance to do anything. The impact lifted her off her feet with a strangled cry of agony but before she went flying he seized her by the ankle and slammed her straight downwards into road, fracturing the cobbles beneath her.

Levy heard her cries echo through the street before Gajeel suddenly seized her by the lower face in one hand, clamping his palm over her mouth to silence her and sneered as he lifted her up by it to slam her against the wall, pinning her there by her face even as she struggled feebly.

"_Now now. No screaming. I want the pathetic trash you call friends to find out about this when they wake up next morning and not before. But there's quite a bit of time left until dawn… which means plenty of time left for some more fun, don't you agree?"_

Even as Levy felt the terror pounding through her veins as the memory filled her consciousness, there was a tiny part of her that was screaming, 'That's not him! He's not like that anymore! He changed! He saved you from Laxus and from Grimoire Heart! He's good now!'

But that part was drowned out by the dread and hopelessness trying to swallow up the rest of her and all Levy could do was scream. Writhe and thrash and kick in the chair, the chains biting into her arms as her wails filled the room.

Mavis was leaning in front of her, unseen to the others and trying desperately to get her to snap out of it but as the cloaked beings closed in around Levy the bluenette's struggles seemed to weaken as her consciousness began to fade. She grimaced as she looked up - whatever these creatures were doing to Levy wasn't affecting her as much, possibly because she was a ghost, but she could still feel a terrible fear seeping through her body. And she could see that many of the people around the room were looking highly uncomfortable themselves, most trying to keep as far away from the Dementors as they could but a couple of the Aurors wondering if they should step in, keep the Dementors away from the prisoner.

What should she do? Should she reveal herself and demand this stop? Those things were hurting Levy just by being nearby. She couldn't allow this to happen!

"Minister, how are we supposed to even question her when she's like this?" Madam Bones pointed out.

"We'll just have to wait for her to adjust," Fudge said firmly. "But until we know what she can do, the Dementors stay as an added precaution. Now, we must…"

_**BANG!**_

Just as Levy was on the verge of losing consciousness the entire room was practically thrown off balance. For a fraction of a second, a large lattice of criss-crossing white lines appeared on the heavy wooden doors and about half the back wall before both suddenly exploded inwards, shattering into hundreds of pieces in an instant flat as a single, solitary figure thundered through the door, fist first.

The Aurors were forced to dive forwards to avoid being crushed under falling chunks of brick, while all those in the stands jumped to their feet in shock and most of them fell over. Even the Dementors lurched around and backed away, hissing and rattling. But Mavis could only smile as Gildarts stood there amongst the debris. He must have heard Levy's screams from his holding cell and come thundering to the rescue, and with a single punch to the door he'd shattered pretty much the entire wall!

Gildarts took one look at the slumped Levy chained to the chair and his expression grew thunderous, glaring up at the stunned, cowering Minister for Magic.

"You know, I really was planning to play nice," he said as he strode forwards, his cloak billowing behind him. "But perhaps there's one thing you should understand about our guild. We look out for each other. And we'll do anything… and I mean anything… to protect each other. No matter who the enemy may be."

And his hand crashed down on the back of Levy's chair, disintegrating the entire thing, chains and all, in a second flat. Levy, barely conscious, groaned as she fell but Gildarts caught her and slung her over one shoulder with surprising gentleness.

"I get the feeling you guys aren't really bad, per se," Gildarts announced. "But if this is how you intend to treat even someone as gentle and kind as Levy, I think we're done here. Good day." And without another word he swept around and thundered back towards the massive hole where the wall had been, Mavis right behind him.

"S…STOP HIM! DON'T LET THEM LEAVE!" Fudge gave a strangled cry. One Auror reluctantly tried to obey and pointed his wand, only for Gildarts to swing an arm out and generate a white wave across the ground beneath the Auror's feet, which was blasted to pieces and flung the Auror backwards against a wall, while Gildarts charged out of the gap, down the corridor and away.

"Put everyone on high alert!" Fudge cried. "We've got an extremely dangerous man active within the Ministry! He must be stopped at all costs! Now! After him!"

And with a horrible rattling, the four Dementors whooshed off in pursuit.


	13. Ministry Mayhem

Hey guys. Please excuse the delay to this chapter but while Friday is the day I usually try and update by, this time I was hindered by the fact that I moved into my university flat for the first time on Thursday and spent two days doing virtually no writing because I was trying to sort everything out. But I shall endeavour to get back on track as soon as possible, and I hope that uni doesn't take me away from the keyboard too much, though of course uni does have to be my top priority so if it does, there's nothing I can do about it. But we shall see how it goes.

* * *

**Hogwarts Fairies**

**Chapter 13:- Ministry Mayhem**

* * *

"Look, guys… this really isn't a good idea," Tonks murmured as she pretending to check out a menu in her hands, biting her lip as she fought to keep herself from looking around at all the Muggles. She was sitting at a table in a pub off of Whitehall, London and despite the fact she was certain none of the other members of the Ministry out of the Order of the Phoenix knew about her friendship with the Fairy Tail members, being so close to the Ministry headquarters meant it was highly possible there would be one or two people she knew around somewhere.

And considering she was sitting with just about all the Fairy Tail members she knew right now, if there was another Ministry member around it might lead to a couple of questions.

Well, that wasn't precisely true. All the human members of the guild were sitting at another table together, and the Exceed were keeping themselves hidden away on the roof. She herself was actually sitting at her own table with Mad-Eye Moody, who had a bowler hat pulled down slightly over his magical eye so that the Muggles wouldn't see it.

She'd just come to Grimmauld Place briefly to check on Gray, Juvia and Lisanna after a long and well-deserved rest, only to discover that all of Fairy Tail except Mavis were present and all looking rather concerned. It wasn't until then that she learned that the Sphere within the Ministry had faded and now they were all insisting that they head out immediately to join them, or at least go somewhere that they could be close by.

Gajeel in particular had been adamant that they get going now. And whenever Tonks had asked why they needed to go, he just replied, "In case something happens."

"In case what happens?"

"I dunno! Something."

"Do you think this something's going to happen?"

"I don't know if anything's going to happen but just in case something does, we want to be there."

And the conversation had circled around like that several times before Moody finally put his wooden foot down with a loud _thunk_ and declared that they could consent to taking Fairy Tail somewhere they could at least receive a vague understanding of what was going on down below, but that they'd have to do their best to blend in with their surroundings, so to speak.

Which was why they were all sitting in the pub right now, Moody's one real eye staring down at his menu while the eye that had given him his nickname was currently swivelling around in its socket, unseen by the others and looking almost straight downwards through his own chin and the ground beneath them.

Fairy Tail were doing their best to remain casual. Gajeel was quaffing a beer that he'd bought with money Tonks had given him. The man at the bar had asked him for identification, but Gajeel had just given him a look and he'd quickly filled the glass up without asking again. Wendy and Juvia were running their hands through their hair as if comparing them, hoping to give anyone who noticed their blue locks the impression that they'd been rather impressively died. And Lisanna elbowed Gray in the ribs whenever his hand started to pull his shirt up seemingly of its own accord.

To be frank, they weren't doing the best job in the world at blending in, but the grizzled, scarred form of Moody was actually drawing far more attention than they were. Everyone just seemed to notice him like he was setting off warning bells in their heads before they had even set eyes on him.

But he ignored them and focused on staring through the floor.

"It doesn't matter if this is a bad idea or not," Gray stated firmly as he folded his arms, grunting as Lisanna elbowed him for the fifth time since they'd sat down. "Our friends are down there and we'll be damned if we're going to leave them."

"But I thought you said this Gildarts was the most powerful member of your guild," Tonks pointed out. "Surely he, of all people, is the someone you don't need to worry about too much. Or your friend if she's with him."

"Nevertheless, it just wouldn't feel right to sit back and do absolutely nothing. Even if there's nothing we can do, it does make us feel a little better to be… involved somehow."

"I don't see much of a difference, honestly," Gajeel grunted. "Between sitting where we're sitting now and hanging out somewhere else. We should be going in there, trying to bust them out. That's what the Salamander would be doing, don't you think?"

"Well, that just makes me glad that he's not been released from his Sphere yet," Gray scoffed. "You weren't even there the last time something like this happened, when Erza got taken by the Council for show. The idiot went charging in there and made everything worse. He actually tried to convince the Council that he was the real Erza by dressing in a wig and armour he made out of a freaking barrel!"

"GEEHEE! Oh, not that I do wish I could have seen," Gajeel snorted.

"And what are you going to do if something actually does go a bit sour down there?" Tonks questioned.

There was a beat of silence before Wendy rubbed the back of her head and said, "Probably make things a lot worse anyway. Like Natsu-san would."

"Oh brilliant," Tonks sighed. "This idea just keeps sounding better and better. Mad-Eye, why did you let them come here?"

"Ssh, I'm trying to concentrate," Moody growled slightly as he focused down through the floor. "The further I'm trying to see through things the more I have to strain the magic… but I think that I can see the Wizengamot chamber from here if I push myself hard enough… there seems to be a small girl sitting in the chair in the middle… short girl, orange dress… blue hair again - well, isn't that a surprise?"

"That's sounds like Levy-san alright," Juvia raised her head slightly. "Moody-san can see Levy-san from here?"

"Just," Moody confirmed. "My eye can see through solid objects for up to three-hundred yards if I stretch it far enough."

"Well, don't leave us in suspense, man - what's going on down there?"

"She doesn't look happy," Moody said gruffly, his eye twitching minutely beneath his hat. "In fact she looks rather distressed."

"What?" Gajeel bristled slightly. "The hell are they doing to her?"

"It looks like they're just talking."

"What about?"

"Oh yes, I of course have magical ears that can hear whatever my eye sees," Moody turned glower at him slightly while his eye remained fixed on the events below. "She's talking to the Minister and the Wizengamot though so it must be an interrogation."

"Why would they interrogate Levy?" Lisanna's eyes widened slightly. "There's nothing about Levy's personality that could make anyone believe she was a dangerous or even an untrustworthy person."

"I won't pretend to know what's going through Fudge's mind these days," Moody snorted. "And people call me mad." But then he stiffened slightly and said, "Ah…"

"Ah? What's ah? What's going on?" Gajeel snapped.

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia gripped his arm slightly to prevent him from rising out of his seat and doing who-knew-what? "Moody-san… what's happening?"

"They've called in some Dementors."

Tonks stiffened, a shiver passing down her spine at the mere name. "Oh no… they wouldn't… surely they wouldn't."

"Wouldn't what? What's a Dementor?" Wendy hugged herself, shuddering at Tonks' reaction to them alone.

"Dementors are about the closest thing to a demon we have in this world," Moody wrinkled what remained of his nose. "Creatures that feast on human happiness, draw it out from the air around them as if they're sucking it up through a straw. And when they're done, all anyone who gets close to them is left with is their worst experiences, which are get replayed in their minds over and over again. Spend too long in a Dementors company and people have a tendency to go truly insane, which is what often happens to people sent to Azkaban the wizard prison, where the Dementors act as guards for the Ministry."

Gajeel's hand was now gripping the table so hard he was splintering the wood, while Gray's glass of water had frozen solid in his hand. Even Juvia and Lisanna were looking slightly thunderous.

"They'd bring… creatures like that… close to one of our friends?" Gray's snarl sounded slightly feral.

"Why would they even employ creatures like that!?" Lisanna gasped. "That's… surely that's inhumane."

"It's not like we're happy about it," Tonks protested. "But having the Dementors on our side and guarding a small minority of horrible people is better than having them against us and roaming free across the land. It was a compromise we came up with to prevent them from wreaking havoc on everyone."

"It doesn't look like your friend's reacting well to them," Moody observed. "No, that's definitely a rather violent reaction. She must have one or two horrible memories in her past somewhere."

Gajeel stiffened even more, something that Juvia and Gray both noticed. The Iron Dragon Slayer's eyes were wide but his slitted pupils had shrank to dots, this teeth gritted so hard they would have snapped if he were an ordinary human.

If Levy was reliving some terrible memories then that meant… could one of them be… the one about him?

Abruptly Gajeel surged up from his seat and roared, "That's it! I'm going in!" and he suddenly barrelled out across the room, slamming an unfortunate waiter across a table as he passed and busting the door straight off his hinges as he ploughed into the street.

"Gajeel! Gajeel stop!" Tonks gasped, leaping up and tripping over in a single fluid motion, but she was thankfully caught by Lisanna even as Gray and Juvia thundered out after them.

"Sorry," Lisanna said grimly, as Wendy pushed her way up as well, the both of them helping Tonks back to her feet. "But remember what Gray said about us doing what we felt was best for our friends no matter what? Well… looks like this is one of those times."

"Looks like they might not be needed," Moody said almost conversationally. "The big man down there's just smashed down half the Wizengamot hall and taken the girl off."

"Then hopefully it won't be too difficult to find them," Wendy replied, before she and Lisanna dashed out the door after the others. Tonks ran after them, pausing at the entrance as she watched Whitehall dissolve into chaos - it seemed Gajeel had smashed the hood of a taxi to mulch as he'd run across the street and all the Muggles were gasping and pointing as the three Exceed, who had clearly noticed something was happening, swooped down from overhead to join Fairy Tail as they ran.

"Oh god, this is a disaster," Tonks murmured to herself as she reached for her wand, preparing herself for trouble. "But, how are they planning to get down there? There's no main entrance to the Ministry. There's only the Floo, Apparition and the…"

Her words died in her throat when she saw Gajeel bolt down one particular side-street, closely followed by the others. A side-street that contained…

"Oh no. How did they know about the visitor's entrance?" she gasped.

"I told them about it," Moody growled as he stepped up beside her.

"You told… MAD-EYE!" Tonks yelled at him. "WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING!?"

"The way I saw it, there were only ever going to be two outcomes to this encounter once the Sphere in the Ministry went down," Moody turned to face her with both eyes, though one still couldn't be seen. "Either everything would go smoothly and the Ministry might gain some new allies in a fight they're so far refusing to fight. But that what sounded far-fetched. This was the far more likely alternative."

"What and you thought you'd just… help them do it!" Tonks blustered.

"Put it this way, Nymphadora," Mad-Eye actually grinned, albeit a little lopsidedly. "Whatever happens here today, perhaps the Ministry will start heeding the advice I myself give to everyone - CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

"I knew you were going to do that," Tonks wiped some spittle from her cheek.

* * *

Gajeel pounded forwards down the street until his gaze sighted on the red, windowed box thing that Moody had told him would be there. The concept of telephone boxes was lost on him, but that wasn't what that really was anyway. He thundered straight for it, the growl in his throat building up into a roar as he ran.

"Gajeel-kun, slow down!" Juvia shouted as the others struggled to keep up.

"What's going on down there!" Lily called as he swooped in low overhead.

"It doesn't matter what's going on down there! What matters is we're going in and getting them out!" Gajeel bellowed.

"How are you planning to…?" Charla started to ask, but then Gajeel suddenly hurled himself upwards into a colossal flying leap that almost took him up to the height of the building roofs around him. The Iron Dragon Slayer set his sights on the telephone box and channelled his magic into his legs.

"METSURYUU OUGI!" he roared as a magic circle formed beneath his feet and his legs suddenly morphed into a large, furiously spinning drill. "GOUMA: TETSURASEN!" He plunged down like a falling bomb and slammed into the top of the telephone box, shredding it to shrapnel in an instant flat and smashing into the ground beneath it, throwing up chunks of concrete everywhere as he burst down through the space beneath it, down, down, down…

Until he suddenly emerged out in a large room filled with people, crashing through the ceiling with a spray of dirt and sending several witches and wizards diving for cover as he morphed his legs back to normal and slammed into the floor so hard he splintered the tiles. He looked up, ignoring the screaming, the yelling and the sudden frenzy of activity that began all around him, ignoring the high walls, the impressive architecture and the golden statues in a fountain nearby, focusing all his attention to his nose as he searched for anything familiar.

"Gajeel, don't go rushing in so fast!" Lily chided him as he swept out of the hole Gajeel had made in the ceiling, closely followed by Happy, who was carrying Gray.

But Gajeel ignored his Exceed when he caught a sniff and said, "This way, quick!" and plunged into the crowd, who parted before him like the Sea of Reeds before Moses except for a few Aurors who were trying to fight their way to the front.

"Damn, and I thought he was the one who always pointed out how messed up things were," Gray muttered as he took off after him, the two Exceed right behind him. One of the Aurors managed to make his way to the front as they ran but Gray swept his arm to one side and conjured up an ice shield that the unfortunate Auror ran straight into with a solid thunk.

A couple of moments later and Lisanna dropped through the opening with her arms morphed into wings, flaring them to swoop low over the heads of the crowd, closely followed by Charla carrying Wendy and Juvia, bursting down on her own as a jet of water and reforming on the ground.

"There they go!" Wendy pointed to where Gajeel and Gray were disappearing into the distance.

"Come on, let's go after them," Juvia shouted.

"No, wait!" Lisanna interrupted, flapping over to them and landing in front of them smoothly. "Gajeel and Gray are capable of looking after themselves. We don't all need to go to the same place! But since we're here, we should work on trying to find a way to free those Clippers."

"You mean the birds?" Wendy blinked.

"Oh, come on, Lisanna," Charla wrinkled her nose. "I know they're innocent but are they really our top priority right now?"

"Maybe not, but I have faith that Gajeel, Gray, Happy and Lily will be more than enough to cover our top priority," Lisanna reasoned. "And since we're here we might as well do both the things we came here to do. Those birds are relying on us too."

"She has a point," Wendy stated. "But we'd better make a decision soon. Look!" she pointed across the room to where the wizarding security were trying to calm the crowd, many of whom were trying to dash for the exits covering their heads, but several of them were running right towards them, wands being drawn.

Juvia hesitated, looking down in the direction where Gray had gone and longing to go after him and watch his back as well as Gajeel's, but she clenched her fist and said, "Juvia knows Gajeel-kun and Gray-sama are up to the task. Juvia believes in them too. Juvia says we go for the birds."

"Alright," Wendy lifted her head and started using her own Dragon Slayer's sense of smell to take stock of her surroundings. "Got them!" she cried. "This way!" She pointed ahead and Charla whooshed off in the direction she indicated. A couple of spells were thrown up at them but Charla zig-zagged rapidly and easily dodged, and moments later the wizards firing the spells were bowled over by a wall of water as Juvia ploughed over their heads, flanked by a winged Lisanna.

And Tonks arrived in the hall shortly afterwards to watch the last of the mayhem unfolding as the girls rushed their way into another corridor.

"Well… how's this one going to be hidden from the public I wonder," she muttered to herself as she hurried to join the bedlam.

From the moment that Gildarts rushed out of the broken wall, people were there trying to block his way. The noises of the explosions he'd made busting out of his cell and getting Levy out of the interrogation room had certainly attracted a fair amount of attention and as he rounded a corner he saw a group of about ten witches and wizards running towards him.

"Stop!" One of them yelled as he pointed his wand ahead right at Gildarts. "Surrender in the name of the Ministry!"

Gildarts grimaced - most of these guys seemed to be fairly decent guys so he didn't want to do anything to hurt them if he could manage it. So he merely slammed his fist into the wall and ran off, down a different corridor instead, the corner behind him fracturing into dozens of pieces and falling in on itself like a landslide, blocking off the corridor and causing the security behind it to come skidding to a halt to avoid running slap-bang into it.

"Nnnn… nooo… keep… keep away… stay away…" Levy spasmed slightly on his shoulder, batting at the air with her arms as if trying to ward away an evil spirit weakly.

"Just hold on, Levy. We're getting you to safety," Mavis assured her, looking over her shoulder as the four Dementors pursuing them rounded the bend and swept through the air towards them, scabbed hands scraping at the air in a disturbingly zombie-like way. "Gildarts, those things are gaining."

"Well, let's see if we can't slow them down," Gildarts grunted as he spun around on the spot. "Because for some reason I mind the idea of hurting them a lot less. RRRRRHHHHAAAAAAGHH!" he bellowed as he slammed the palm of his real hand down to the ground, bursting his Crash magic down the corridor to seemingly splinter the floor and both walls into fractured, even bits, the cracks running past the Dementors.

As they approached, Gildarts couldn't help but feel several shivers running up his spine the like of which he'd not experienced for a long time, along with a terrible gnawing in gut that created an almost unfamiliar sense of despair, but Gildarts blocked it out, clenching his teeth and bursting the splintered floor and wars inwards in a colossal explosion. The Dementors screeched as they were suddenly smashed from seemingly all sides by flying bits of rubble that fell in around them, burying them in a veritable landslide.

Gildarts had no idea whether that would work on such creatures or even hold them back for long, but he didn't need to wait to find out. He turned and ran on. "First, how do we get out of here?" he asked.

"I don't know the layout very well, but we need to find the elevators," Mavis replied.

"The what?"

"The small rooms that move around on their own to take people places!"

"Oh, those. Well, where are…"

"Stop! Stop right there!" Scrimgeour's voice bellowed as Gildarts rounded another corner with no idea where he was going whatsoever. Gildarts hesitated as Scrimgeour, whom he had judged to be a decent enough man for sure, and several other Aurors, came charging in towards him.

"Don't make me hurt you guys!" Gildarts shouted across at them. "Just let us leave!"

"Can't do that! Surrender immediately or we'll have to use extreme force!" Scrimgeour replied, his wand at the ready even as he ran.

Gildarts grimaced and spun around with a swish of his cloak to run in the opposite direction. But as he did, he heard Scrimgeour shouted, "You asked for it. Now, men!"

"Stupefy!" multiple voices shout all at once and Gildarts felt the rush of an incoming attack behind him, spinning about to see several red streaks of light surging in towards him like speeding bullets. Gildarts gritted his teeth and thrust his hand forwards, generating a wall of criss-crossing lines across the whole corridors like a shield, and when the spells hit the wall they burst into teensy pieces that scattered to the wind.

Many of the Aurors actually pulled to a stop to ogle at that, but Scrimgeour pressed on with a couple of the others anyway.

"Now who's asking for it?" Gildarts asked as he seized a wall with one hand and tore a huge strip of it the size of himself away from the rest, hefting it over his head and lobbing it down the corridor like an enormous, square javelin. The Aurors yelled and skidded to a halt, Scrimgeour firing a Reductor curse up at the wall to try and break it, only for the flying wall piece to break into dozens of smaller bits under the effects of Gildarts' magic. The Reductor curse pulverised only one of these smaller cubes while the others rained down to collide with stomachs, chests, arms and legs… one of them connected with Scrimgeour's cheek and knocked him backwards and off his feet, dazed and smarting.

"This way, Gildarts! It's this way!" Mavis waved from the end of the corridor and Gildarts hurried off after her, hearing the clamour of more wizards coming in his ears. But it took him another couple of corners before he ran into something else - one man who was blocking his path ahead. Gildarts reacted instinctively, seizing the man by the front of his robes and preparing to swing him out of the way, when Mavis stopped him with, "Gildarts, no! That's Kingsley. He's one of the Order I mentioned before."

"Oh… right…" Gildarts let go, immediately but his arm movement had already yanked Kingsley to the side and he crashed into the wall slightly, but was stopped from falling over when Gildarts steadied his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Grateful that you're accompanied by a ghost mentor certainly," Kingsley chuckled wryly as he pushed himself upright. "Look, Gildarts, isn't it? I just want to quickly apologise on behalf of the Order and the wider Ministry for what's happened here today. Suffice to say the Minister has had… a lot on his proverbial plate recently and he may have acted rather rashly out of fear…"

"I'm afraid now's probably not the time to apologise on the behalf of your government," Gildarts stated simply. "I'm taking Levy out of here and as far away from those… creatures… as possible."

"Mm okay… I can walk…" Levy protested slightly, kicking a little from her place over Gildarts' shoulder, prompting Gildarts to slowly lower her to the ground, but hold her steady as she wobbled a little.

"Kingsley, can we get out of here? Can't you Apparate them out?" Mavis asked.

"Unfortunately no," Kingsley shook his head. "There are Anti-Apparition Wards throughout the Ministry in all rooms except the Atrium, designed to protect Ministry officials from surprise attacks by wizarding terrorists… And even if I took you away in the Atrium, people would definitely see me do it. I fear you will need to make your own way out now. Unless I can convince you to stay and try and sort this out diplomatically."

"Do you think that would actually happen in the current situation?" Mavis asked. "People who bring in those creatures as extra security because of one girl with a magic they didn't even understand most likely won't be willing to handle things diplomatically after the damage that's been done now. I fear we'll have to make our escape now and hope that we can make peace with the Ministry when we all have cooler heads."

Kingsley grimaced, turning around at the sound of rushing footsteps a few corridors away, heading right for them. "You're right," he said. "Alright then, listen. You're on Level Ten right now and the Atrium is the big room with the golden statue fountain on Level Eight. You can escape from there via Floo Powder if you wish. Mavis, you can show these two how to do it."

"Then we need to get to the lifts," Mavis nodded.

"That won't work," Kingsley replied quickly. "The Ministry's being put into lockdown and all the lifts have been stopped. You can't use them anymore."

"Then how do we get up two floors?" Levy asked a little weakly, still trying to recover her strength.

"The hard way," Gildarts replied immediately, as the shouting grew much closer. "But first," he suddenly slammed his fist into Kingsley's gut and the Auror gasped and stumbled backwards, clutching at his stomach and wheezing. "Sorry, have to make it look like you're not helping us," Gildarts apologised before he gripped Levy tightly in his arms and focused his magic down towards his feet. Levy gasped as she felt the floor cracking underneath them, felt as if an inferno of magical energy was brewing all around her as Gildarts' body glowed brightly for a moment…

And then Gildarts blasted his magic into the floor to not only shatter it, but propel himself straight upwards like he'd been fired out of a cannon, wrapping his arms tightly around a screaming Levy and angling himself so his shoulders were the first thing to smash into the ceiling and crash straight through it as if it was made of paper, blasting it to bits as they shot up into the ninth level above.

Levy got only a fleeting glimpse of the room beyond, and it was certainly a very big room - with a ceiling so high above that it reminded Levy of the Kardia Cathedral back home in Magnolia, but instead of stain glass windows and columns it was filled with what looked like dozens of rows of immensely tall shelves absolutely covered with strange-looking glass orbs.

But as Gildarts punched his way through the floor directly beneath one of these shelves and therefore splintered it to shards as he crashed straight through it, the strange room was very promptly thrown into chaos as large bits of shelf and orbs went flying everywhere, smashing into other shelves and knocking them over and creating a chain reaction through the room with countless glass orbs raining down to the floor and smashing to fragments against it even as more shelves were overturned.

But through it all, Gildarts still rocketed upwards even to the high ceiling and smashed his way through that one too, leaving the practically collapsing room behind.

They emerged onto the eighth floor in a fountain of brick, tiles, wood and other bits of building; a couple of wizards falling backwards in shock as the floor erupted in front of them and scrambling backwards as Gildarts landed next to the gaping hole he'd just made with a swish of his cloak. Levy stumbled backwards slightly as he let go of her, gasping for breath and rather wide-eyed.

"Are you okay?" Gildarts asked, as Mavis rose up through the hole to meet them.

"I… I think so…" Levy leaned over the edge of the hole to look down and see several Aurors gather underneath it, gaping in disbelief. A couple of them aimed their wands up and fired spells at her, but she quickly dodged backwards. "I think we'd better go though."

"Indeed," Gildarts nodded. "Let's move!"

* * *

Wendy's foot accidentally knocked the hat off yet another witch as Charla whipped her around another corner just high enough to avoid actually kicking the startled woman in the face. The Sky Dragon Slayer was constantly sniffing the air, tilting her head around and able to see Lisanna and Juvia through the corner of her eye behind her, one turned to water and pulsing herself along through the air and the other with wide wings that pretty much touched either side of the corridors she was swooping down.

"Getting any closer, Wendy?" Lisanna shouted.

"Not really!" Wendy called back. "The smell keeps fading and getting stronger. I think that it might be coming from above."

"Then we need to find some stairs or something!" Juvia called. "Has anyone seen any since we got in here?"

"No, not… wait!" Wendy cried as they whooshed past some kind of metal doors, Charla practically screeching to a halt as Juvia and Lisanna had to pull back to keep themselves from crashing into her. "The smell… it was a bit stronger through those doors!"

"Alright… but Juvia doesn't see a door handle…" Juvia frowned slightly. "How do we get through."

"We'll have to get through the traditional Fairy Tail way," Lisanna replied as she landed in front of the doors, shifted into her giant rabbit form and planted her back feet on the wall behind her, kicking off from it like a springboard to catapult herself into the door of the elevator. A fraction of a second before impact she morphed again into her giant penguin shape, which was the heaviest of her Take-Overs. And the force of the collision was enough to tear the doors out of their moorings as Lisanna punched through into the empty space beyond.

Lisanna gasped as she suddenly realised she was in open air, but even as she started to fall she shifted back into her bird form and flared her wings, catching herself to fly back up. Wendy and Charla came through the doors to meet her, Wendy looking around and sniffing urgently, before declaring, "Up! The smells coming from above."

"Lead on, Wendy!" Lisanna called as Charla transported the Sky Dragon Slayer up higher, followed closely by the others.

They had to weave in and out of the metal tracks that carried the lifts all around the building until Wendy pointed to another door and cried, "I think that's the one we have to go through now."

"Alright then, its Juvia's turn," Juvia curved her body over Wendy's head and streaked in towards the door, spinning herself in a vicious corkscrew with her arms out to the side and crying, "WATER SLICER!"

Multiple water blades peeled away from her spinning hands to form a rough circle of high-pressure projectiles that crashed into the doors and managed to cut their way clean through to the other side. Juvia washed through the gap that dropped out into the room beyond, settling on the ground and noting a large sign in front of her that read; 'Level 4 - Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.'

"This looks like the place," she noted as the other girls joined her.

"I hope the others are okay," Wendy noted. "They may have run into more trouble than us."

"Well, there's really not much we can do for them up here. We should focus on finding the birds, though how we're going to get them out of the Ministry is anyone's guess."

"One step at a time," Lisanna noted. "But we'll think of something. We'll have to."

* * *

"Get outta my way!" Gajeel bellowed as he heaved an unfortunate Auror that had gotten in his way around by his robes and sent him crashing into three others as they made their way out of another corridor.

Gray was right behind him, creating a wall of ice to prevent several other Aurors from following them now that he's established that the girls weren't following. But he could tell that while they certainly had gained the element of surprise with their sudden entrance to the Ministry, which have been a very big help in bulldozing their way through everyone so far, the forces of the Ministry now seemed to be rallying, and were converging on their location, trying to come from all directions at once.

"Gajeel, are they close!" he yelled as several spells hit his ice wall, including one that caused a couple of cracks to appear in the other side.

"Not far away now!" Gajeel replied. "I can smell them much more clearly now!"

"But we're surrounded now!" Happy yelled from next to Gray's legs, watching as several robed men came running in from both the corridors that Gray had not blocked off. They'd found themselves at a T-junction and were now several spells of various colours came lancing in from both directions. Gajeel had no clue what any of them did but he flattened himself against a wall to avoid them and growled as he morphed his hand into a club.

"Then we'll just have to tear our way through!" he snarled.

"Oi! Gajeel, these guys aren't supposed to be our enemies you know!" Gray yelled at him, grimacing as his shield took another battering from a Bludgeoning Hex. "We should try and do this with the minimum number of horrific injuries!"

"Tell that to them!" Gajeel growled.

"Urgh, there's no room to swing my sword in here!" Lily groaned as he gripped his currently small blade. "I'll just end up slicing through the walls!"

"That might not be such a bad thing at this point cos there's no room for dodging either!" Gray called, the group of four crouching for cover from the spells around the corner next to Gray's shield even as the Aurors drew in closer. The Ice Mage whirled around, slamming his hands together and generating an Ice Cannon in his hands, which he propped up against the wall. "We'll have to be quick! Lily, take that and wait for my word."

Lily wanted to ask what he was meant to do with it when he was given the word since he couldn't exactly fire the thing himself, but there was no time so he did as bid and grew into his battle form, seizing the cannon and valiantly ignoring the fierce chill it instantly created in his hands.

"Clear a path for us, Gajeel!" Gray called.

"Geehee! My pleasure," Gajeel sprang to his feet furiously swung his fist towards the wall in front of them. The iron club that lengthened from it punched through the stonework with ease to create a gaping hole, and moments later the other arm shot up to widen the gap until it was easily large enough for people to get through.

"Now, Lily!" Gray shouted as he bounded out into the corridor to face one group of approaching Aurors and slammed his hands into the ground to call, "ICE GEYSER!" and conjuring up a veritable tidal wave of icy shards that washed down the walls and sent several of the front-running Aurors flying as it crashed into them, bowling them over. And then he spun around to face the other way, to see Lily already in position.

The big Exceed had guessed what Gray was planning and was crouched behind him with the cannon pointed at the oncoming Aurors, who hesitated at the sight of the huge cat levelling the weapon at them and what had happened to the others. But Gray didn't give them a chance to recuperate, seizing the back of the cannon and generating his magic into it, firing the icy blast down the hallway to envelop several of the Auror and send them crashing back into one another like skittles.

"Thanks, Lily," Gray nodded, as he dispelled the cannon. "Molding Magic may be fast, but having it already waiting for you makes it even faster."

"Come on, let's move it!" Gajeel shot through the hole he'd made, the others close behind him.

A few more turns later and suddenly something rounded another corner and ran slap-bang into Gajeel, literally smacking into his chest and yelping as it lost its balance and toppled backwards onto its backside. Gajeel, fortunately, was quick enough to pull to a halt and found himself looking down at a wide-eyed, breathless Levy.

Even Gajeel couldn't deny the surge of relief that washed right through him at the sight of her, looking a little worse for wear but otherwise okay. His face split into a grin and he said, "Hey, Shorty. Ya miss me?"

But the grin faltered slightly when he saw that Levy was looking up at him not with relief… but with terror. Her pupils had shrunk into dots, her body was shaking slightly, her breath was coming out in ragged gasps and it looked like every muscle in her was trying to seize up on her at once.

"Oi… Levy… what's wrong?" Gajeel stepped forwards and reached down towards her, but Levy screamed and kicked up at him, knocking his hand away. Gajeel recoiled, not hurt but rather shocked as Levy scrambled backwards like a panicked animal.

"Levy! It's me!" Gajeel stepped forwards, but Levy flinched and covered her face with her arms, closing her eyes as if bracing for an impact. "What's gotten into you?"

"Stay away!" Levy shouted, shoving herself to her feet just as Gildarts, Mavis and the rest of Gajeel's group all caught up with them. Levy immediately fled back to Gildarts and hid behind him, putting him between herself and Gajeel as she clutched her head and bit her lip, quivering like a scared rabbit.

"She's just had a rather traumatic experience," Gildarts noted. "I'm not sure what happened exactly, but it hasn't left me in the best of tempers I can tell you."

"Levy…" Gajeel started again, but the mere sound of his voice was enough to make Levy flinch. She turned around slowly, peering around Gildarts to look him in his studded face, but even though he was frowning in apparent concern… she could also see a savage, sneering grin plastered across his features in her mind's eye. She could also hear his cackling laugh echoing in her memory, could practically feel the places where his iron fists had once smashed into her like a dull itch.

"_Now now. No screaming. I want the pathetic trash you call friends to find out about this when they wake up next morning and not before. But there's quite a bit of time left until dawn… which means plenty of time left for some fun, don't you agree?"_

Those words, which had once come from his mouth, were ringing through her brain, memories that she'd tried very hard to bury and never remember forced back up to the front of her mind by the Dementors. And now, when she looked at him… she just couldn't help but remember it all over again.

_Stop it, Levy, stop it! Stopitstopitstopitstopit! Look at him, he's worried about you! You should be happy, not scared! He'd never say that to you now, never do that to you now! Look at the mark on his shoulder! He's Fairy Tail. He's a friend now, and you know he is! So why are you scared of him again?_

That was what her heart and conscience was screaming at her, her instincts seemed to be trying to overrule her rational thoughts and the memories within her screaming, _Enemy! Phantom Lord! Run! Hide! Fear him! Enemy!_ And those thoughts forced her to look away, eyes screwed shut and teeth gritted with frustration.

Gajeel himself could feel his fist clenching so hard he had to turn his palm to iron to stop his nails from drawing his own blood. His fear had practically been confirmed. Moody had said that the Dementors caused people to relive their worst memories. And despite everything that had happened since he'd joined Fairy Tail, all the progress he'd made to resolve things with the girl he'd so viciously beaten… it was like it had all been undone in an instant flat!

Of course what he did to her would be one of her worst memories. No matter how many years passed by, that would always be the case.

"Shit," he muttered to himself under his breath and looked away and summing up the situation in what he felt to be a pretty adequate manner with that one word.

"Gildarts!" Happy cheered as he hovered over to the big man. "So you really are here! Wow, its so good to see you."

"And you," Gildarts smirked wryly. "Though this may not be the best time for a reunion. We still need to get to the Atrium place and get out of here."

"But we can't yet," Happy shook his head. "Charla and the others aren't here - Wendy and Lisanna and Juvia… we got separated from them somehow."

"Where the heck could they all have gone?" Gray muttered irritably.

"Most likely to try and find the Clippers," Mavis replied. "Getting them out was another one of our goals of course."

"Yeah, but now!?" Gray scoffed. "Of all times they do that now?"

"On the contrary I think it was the right call," Mavis stated. "If we'd left them here and escaped ourselves then its likely they'd realise the Clippers are just as alien to this universe as we are, and possibly exterminate them since they don't belong here. We may never get another chance to save them than this."

"…Fair point…" Gray noted. "But how do we find them now? Gajeel, can you track them?"

"I believe I know where they will have gone," Mavis pointed upwards. "The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is on Level Four - I saw it on the floor plan of my tour earlier. We must head up there."

"But the transport up there's been shut down," Gildarts pointed out.

"Well then we'll make our own transport," Gray stated. "Come on… let's…"

He stopped talking suddenly, his eyes widening as the hair stood up on the back of his neck. His whole body had suddenly gone frigid, as if he'd been dunked into a lake of freezing water and Gray couldn't remember the last time he'd actually felt cold. Especially not cold this biting.

"Guuh… what's happening!?" Gajeel had stiffened too. Gildarts' eyes widened slightly and he swore under his breath as the tails of both the Exceed stood up straight.

"Not more of them…" Gildarts cursed, as a wizard ran into the hallway nearby, pointing towards them and crying, "There they are. Quick, subdue them!" Before many, many tall cloaked figures wafted around the corner and swept down it towards the gathered Fairy Tail members. And down the hall where Gildarts and Levy had just come from, more of them emerged.

"What… what are those things!?" Happy yelled.

"What… what's wrong with me?" Lily's hands were clutching his stomach. "Why do I feel this way?"

"Are these… those Dementor things?" Gajeel sucked in a breath through his teeth before he suddenly clutched his head, gasping as a feeling of despair washed over him like a pit opening inside him and seeking to swallow him up from within. As the Dementors drew closer, a faint voice began to ring in his ears… was that his own?

"_Metalicana…! Hey, Metalicana, where are you!? Get… get back here, you… you… damn dragon! This isn't funny anymore. Where've you gone!…. Please, come back!"_

All around him the others were having similar reactions. Gray's was perhaps the most violent, falling to his knees and clutching his stomach as if he was going to be sick, the sounds of burning and screaming and a terrible, grating, booming roar - one that he would never forget - seeking to shatter his eardrums even now when it was just a memory. Sweat was beginning to spring up across his whole body as vague images of the huge bestial demon laying waste to his hometown swept through his consciousness, as well as the terrible image of his father's broken body with the massive gash torn across his left temple.

"N… No…" he gasped. "D…Dad… Deliora… not… not this…"

Even the Exceed were reacting harshly. Happy had fallen onto his backside and was shaking like a leaf as he too heard his own voice. _"My… my mission… was to kill Natsu," _shortly accompanied by Charla's screams of despair as the black Exceed named Nadi told them about how their friendship with the Dragon Slayers was all a lie. While Lily was clenching his fists and clenching his fangs so tightly he could probably chew through iron himself as he heard the words again, _"You are now made one of the Fallen, and are banished from Extalia…"_

"No… no, no, no, no, no…" Levy had practically shrunk into a ball, covering her head as the harsh laughter began to ring in her ears once more. "Not again… go away… just go away…"

Mavis looked round in horror as each of her guild members began to succumb to the Dementors effects, shaking and gasping as their memories tried to drag them downwards, as the horrible wraiths themselves slowly drew in towards them, their horrible breath filling the air almost gleefully as if they sensed they were winning. What should she do? What could she do?

Even Gildarts stumbled slightly, one hand covering one side of his face and panting for breath as several memories seemed to flash through his head in rapid succession.

"_Cornelia, why… can't we try a little more?"_

"_I'm sorry, Gildarts, really I am… but you're never around. You're too involved with your work, always going away on jobs. I can't stand being alone so much anymore and I just don't think this is part of you that you can change… I'm sorry… I want a divorce…"_

Then another memory:-

"_Stop this, Ivan! Stop this now or I'm going to have to stop you! Don't make me do this!"_

"_Step aside, Gildarts! This has nothing to do with you, this has to do solely with me and my father."_

"_Ivan, I'm warning you…"_

And another - the almost mocking roar that shook the mountain he was standing on as Acnologia descended on him with a blur of speed that belied his enormous size and the ghost of the searing, indescribable agony as in a flash what felt like a third of his entire body was torn from the rest of him in a single, brutal strike.

"Guuuhnn…" Gildarts growled slightly as he looked up at the Dementors gliding in ever closer, imprinting the most horrendous moments of his life back and all the others with their own pasts. He felt his fist clenching as he tried to block out the memories, but the more he tried to ignore them they more they seemed to press down on him. But now the Dementors were reaching their hands forwards grasping towards the closest of their targets.

He had to do something…

_Cana! _his mind suddenly screamed at him.

_Think of Cana! Think of how indescribably happy you were when you'd got over the shock of her being your daughter. How you watched the daughter you never knew you had growing over the years. How she said she was glad to have met you, how she let you, despite having not known who she was for eighteen years, have the right to love her!_

That moment had, perhaps, been the happiest moment of his life, and it was certainly the freshest of his best ones in his memory. And as he focused on it, he felt the despair inside him lessen as if his memory of Cana was somehow buoying him up. The other memories seemed to be purged from his head and his gaze became hard as steel as he suddenly sprang forwards like a giant leaping panther, seizing a Dementor's scabby hand in his own moments before it touched Gray.

The Dementor actually screeched and jerked back slightly but, with a face of stone-cold fury, Gildarts smashed his hand and the Dementors own hand into the hooded face, knocking it back even further and summoning an immense amount of Crash power into his palm. With a roar of power, a massive white blast of energy detonated from his palm and flooded down the corridor, washing over all the Dementors from that side of the group and fracturing the top layer of the walls, floor and ceiling into pieces.

The wizard who'd been escorting the Dementors could only gape from where he was peering around the corner, watching in absolute disbelief… as lines appeared across the bodies of all the Dementors… and several seconds later, they disintegrated into tiny pieces which then vanished into thin air, bits of black cloak drifting down to the floor. The other Dementors coming from the other direction screeched and immediately backed off, sensing that which was surely impossible… other Dementors… had been killed?

Gildarts looked over at the rest of the Dementors and raised his hand at them, but they got the message and quickly retreated, bumping into each other in their haste to get away from this man. Gildarts smirked with satisfaction as the rest of Fairy Tail began to come round, before turning back to the lone wizard watching them, who cringed slightly as their eyes met.

"I don't know why this Ministry has creatures like those things in their employ," Gildarts said to him. "But I believe I already said. We will do anything to protect each other. And let me tell you… for as long as you still want any of those things anywhere near one of us… then you have made an enemy out of Fairy Tail. Go and tell your Minister that."

The wizard gasped and dashed off like he had the devil chasing him. Gildarts smirked in satisfaction before he gripped Gray's shoulder and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, you lot. We need to regroup with the others. The sooner we're out of here the better!"

"I hear that," Gray moaned, clutching his head, but hurrying off.

"Gajeel, lead the way," Gildarts instructed.

Gajeel took one last look at the still visibly distressed Levy, who was still trying hard to keep away from him and grimaced, but nodded. "Follow me."


End file.
